With COVID heading into another exponential spread and the Trump administration’s attempted coup d’état, it feels like the train of anxiety is running into an endless tunnel with all of us on board. Although American democracy won — Joe Biden became the President-elect — the margin of victory left me to meditate on the extent of my overconfident misunderstanding of America’s character, due in part to the social media echo chamber. The excruciating feeling of witnessing state after state turn red on Election Night led me to seek reasons why. After all, the initial message I received from the razor-thin race was that nearly half of Americans support white supremacy, bigotry, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia and corruption. However, the purpose of this piece is to reject such oversimplification of viewing the values of America in a binary political fashion.
As we know, the narrative of America is that of diversity, and the country is growing increasingly more diverse. Not only do ethnic and socio-economic disparities shape distinctive American realities, but also Americans living in different states experience different laws, such as gun control, the legality of drug use, and gambling, among many other examples. Each state’s history, demographics, natural resources, etc., all play an essential role in varying American experiences and reality. As heterogeneous as America is, to essentially view American values through the two political parties would be too easy a generalization. Besides, most Americans are not interested and involved in politics, after all.
According to the research conducted by two political science professors, Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan, only 15–20 percent of Americans follow politics closely, while 80–85 percent of Americans follow politics casually or not at all. Such high contrast illustrates the disengagement in politics, which is obfuscated by the constant butting heads between Democrats and Republicans on TV. Therefore, to force political identities on Americans who have only gotten involved in politics by casting ballots once in four years is too extreme to allow for nuance.
As former President Obama said in an interview in 2018, people who watch Fox News are “living on another planet.” Though the statement is rhetorical and humorous in nature, it’s perhaps not that Fox or CNN viewers who are living on different planets; the more significant gulf is between those who have stable and more intellectual jobs that allow them energies to follow and engage in the latest political dynamics and those who toil with their hands from dawn to dusk and have daily struggles of making ends meet.
The basic human needs are tied to financial stability, hence people make the vote in hopes of changing their economic situation. According to Election Exit Polls, people who believe the economy is booming and find their family’s financial situations better than four years ago overwhelmingly voted for Trump, whereas those who believe the economy is declining and find their financial situations worse voted for Biden. It’s crucial to remember that voters’ views would not necessarily echo the party they voted for. The majority of Florida voters who supported Trump were also pro raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, which Republicans are strongly against. Therein lies the common denominator: people prioritize the issues that will have a significant impact on them, and the most pressing issue facing most people is always to achieve financial stability and success.
For this reason, a lot of Trump votes become comprehensible. As the U.S. leads the global technological advancement and relies on high-tech jobs, the less educated manufacturing workers have been laid off. Given that most factory jobs are situated in the industrial areas of the Midwest, it is only understandable that the steep tariffs slapped on foreign countries by Trump are appealing to the workers, as they believe such a move will stimulate manufacturing jobs back in America. And that’s the reason why Trump has substantial holdings in the midwestern states.
As the media often emphasizes that Trump’s fan base is working-class whites without a college degree, it is easier to frame the argument that “of course the white supremacists, “red-necks” are the ones who support Trump because they speak the same language.” But then there is an unignorable fact: a segment of Trump supporters is people of color.
Recognizing my privilege of having an education compels me not to look down on those who are less educated and allows me to comprehend their standpoint and perspectives, even though I personally can’t agree with them. Putting aside aggressive white supremacists and straight-up bigots, we can’t equate the values of the rest of the Americans who voted for Trump with everything Trump stands for.
I’m inclined to believe that people choose to ignore Trump’s misdemeanors and lies because his achievements during the pre-pandemic economy did make a significant number of Americans lives better off financially. I’m sure that there are more intricate reasons and more thorough analyses that need to be done on intersectionality to explain people’s votes. And yes, the ability to ignore is a privilege because that means one is not being oppressed.
But can we really blame people for looking out for themselves and striving to achieve better financial situations, at least according to their beliefs? Moving forward, to unite the country, we need to put indignation and anger to rest, illuminate the ambivalence, treat the dividedness with perseverance and compassion. After all, it is easier to recognize and comprehend than to fear and resent.
