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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Reasonable Majority Is No Longer Silent (E.J. Dionne, NYT)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/opinion/trump-swing-voters-approval-rating.html-snip-
A significant share of the voters who backed Mr. Trump have decided that he has largely ignored the primary issue that pushed them his way, the cost of living. A billionaire regularly mocking concern about affordability only makes matters worse. They see him as distracted by personal obsessions and guilty of overreach, even when they sympathize with his objectives. Many of his former supporters see him breaking promises he made, notably on not messing with their access to health care.
Some abuses are too blatant to be ignored. A recent The Economist/You Gov poll found that 56 percent of Americans said Mr. Trump was using his office for personal gain; only 32 percent didnt. A similar 56 percent saw Mr. Trump as directing the Justice Department to go after people he saw as his political enemies; just 24 percent didnt.
-snip-
I think of these shifts as the triumph of reasonableness and not because I agree with where these fellow citizens have landed (although I do). Im buoyed by the capacity of citizens to absorb new facts and take in information even when it challenges decisions they previously made. It turns out that swing voters are what their label implies. The evidence of their own lives and from their own eyes matters.
All this is obviously good news for Democrats, who extended their 2025 hot streak by winning the mayoralty in Miami on Tuesday. But its more than that. It dispels myths about Mr. Trumps having magical powers to distract and deceive. It shows that for all the legitimate concerns about the breakdown of our media and information systems, reality can still get through.
-snip-
A significant share of the voters who backed Mr. Trump have decided that he has largely ignored the primary issue that pushed them his way, the cost of living. A billionaire regularly mocking concern about affordability only makes matters worse. They see him as distracted by personal obsessions and guilty of overreach, even when they sympathize with his objectives. Many of his former supporters see him breaking promises he made, notably on not messing with their access to health care.
Some abuses are too blatant to be ignored. A recent The Economist/You Gov poll found that 56 percent of Americans said Mr. Trump was using his office for personal gain; only 32 percent didnt. A similar 56 percent saw Mr. Trump as directing the Justice Department to go after people he saw as his political enemies; just 24 percent didnt.
-snip-
I think of these shifts as the triumph of reasonableness and not because I agree with where these fellow citizens have landed (although I do). Im buoyed by the capacity of citizens to absorb new facts and take in information even when it challenges decisions they previously made. It turns out that swing voters are what their label implies. The evidence of their own lives and from their own eyes matters.
All this is obviously good news for Democrats, who extended their 2025 hot streak by winning the mayoralty in Miami on Tuesday. But its more than that. It dispels myths about Mr. Trumps having magical powers to distract and deceive. It shows that for all the legitimate concerns about the breakdown of our media and information systems, reality can still get through.
-snip-
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The Reasonable Majority Is No Longer Silent (E.J. Dionne, NYT) (Original Post)
highplainsdem
Dec 13
OP
blm
(114,420 posts)1. Viral post
Many of his former supporters see him breaking promises he made, notably on not messing with their access to health care.
Some abuses are too blatant to be ignored. A recent The Economist/You Gov poll found that 56 percent of Americans said Mr. Trump was using his office for personal gain; only 32 percent didnt. A similar 56 percent saw Mr. Trump as directing the Justice Department to go after people he saw as his political enemies; just 24 percent didnt.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/opinion/trump-swing-voters-approval-rating.html
dalton99a
(92,067 posts)2. And aging dictators tend to become more dictatorial, not less
Especially striking are the findings of a Public Religion Research Institute poll this fall that asked whether Mr. Trump had gone too far in a variety of his actions. Among respondents, 54 percent said he had gone too far on tariffs, as did 55 percent on cuts to grants to universities and 60 percent on cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Trump and the G.O.P. are especially vulnerable on cuts to enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies: A KFF survey last month found that 74 percent of Americans said they should be extended, not eliminated.
Even on immigration, Mr. Trumps signature issue, his radical approach was unpopular: In the Public Religion Research Institute poll, 65 percent of respondents opposed deporting undocumented immigrants to foreign prisons, 63 percent opposed arresting undocumented immigrants who have resided in the United States with no criminal records, and 58 percent said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers should not conceal their identities with masks or use unmarked vehicles.
Mr. Trumps opponents have no cause for complacency. In the wake of the 2008 financial implosion, the pandemic and postpandemic inflation, volatility and unhappiness have been hallmarks of public opinion. Poll numbers are fickle.
But in 2025, Trumpian flimflam hit its limits even in the G.O.P. when a majority of Republicans in the Indiana State Senate defied the presidents demand for a midterm congressional redistricting. His power to intimidate is ebbing. A reasonable majority exists. Its searching for alternatives to a leader and a movement it has found wanting.
Even on immigration, Mr. Trumps signature issue, his radical approach was unpopular: In the Public Religion Research Institute poll, 65 percent of respondents opposed deporting undocumented immigrants to foreign prisons, 63 percent opposed arresting undocumented immigrants who have resided in the United States with no criminal records, and 58 percent said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers should not conceal their identities with masks or use unmarked vehicles.
Mr. Trumps opponents have no cause for complacency. In the wake of the 2008 financial implosion, the pandemic and postpandemic inflation, volatility and unhappiness have been hallmarks of public opinion. Poll numbers are fickle.
But in 2025, Trumpian flimflam hit its limits even in the G.O.P. when a majority of Republicans in the Indiana State Senate defied the presidents demand for a midterm congressional redistricting. His power to intimidate is ebbing. A reasonable majority exists. Its searching for alternatives to a leader and a movement it has found wanting.
Sneederbunk
(17,251 posts)3. So wonderful to see many TSF supporters entering detox and rehab.