Among these voters, Harris gets a boost because they believe she would protect abortion rights, and some have broader hopes that electing the first female president could send a strong message to the country. But she’s weighed down by a number of important factors: a dim diagnosis of America’s economy, negative views about life during President Joe Biden’s administration and a lack of familiarity with her, which has bred ambivalence and distrust.
It’s different for Trump, one of the best-known political figures on the planet. Some of these voters believe his conduct during his time in office has disqualified him in their eyes, and even some of his supporters fear he’d focus more in a second term on fighting his enemies than on governing.
Still, a majority of the 12 participants in two sessions — part of the NBC News Deciders Focus Group, produced in collaboration with Syracuse University and the research firms Engagious and Sago — are leaning toward Trump for the oldest reason in politics: It’s the economy.
The average American does, in fact, give at least a few fucks about Gaza and the prospect of another war in the Middle East. You can look up the polls yourself. Also, even if the average American didn’t care, the average swing state American sure as hell does. Michigan gets the most popularity, but the American Midwest in general has a high number of Muslims who are a key demographic in this election. And, you know, people generally don’t like genocide.
A poll that prompts for a response for what someone thinks about a particular topic is not the same as figuring out whether the respondent regularly thinks about that topic when not being polled.