It's all about ... race? Economics? Fill in the blank, but you'll probably be wrong

[Idaho_Cowboy]

It's all about ... race? Economics? Fill in the blank, but you'll probably be wrong
By Megan McArdle Bloomberg View
Published Sept. 20, 2016
Read more at http://jewishworldreview.com/0916/McArdle092016.php3#qjbWXT6lCXTqBc57.99

There's always a temptation, when thinking about politics, to reduce people's views to a simple binary that allows us to easily get a handle on them. The two most popular such binaries in American politics today are economics and race. Both of these lenses have been much used to explain the Trump phenomenon over the last year.

Trump voters, we are informed, are the victims of economic competition from abroad, and are therefore open to his populist pandering about immigration and trade. Alternately, they're just a bunch of racist pigs who have finally found a voice for their racist piggery. Hillary Clinton's infamous and ill-advised remark split the difference by putting only half of Trump's voters into a "basket of deplorables."

There's a lot to like about simple explanations. Complicated explanations often end up sounding like this: "There's a lot of stuff going on, and it's all happening at once. Also maybe some stuff we don't know about." Complicated explanations thus do not lend themselves easily to solutions.

The problem with simple explanations is that they are often . . . not quite right. Consider how many articles, monographs, books, television appearances and lecture tours have been based around the "mystery" of why middle-class Republicans do not vote for what the author has identified as their economic self-interest. Now consider that as far as I can determine from the General Social Survey data, white American views about race haven't changed much since the beginning of the first Clinton presidency. This at least complicates attempts cast this currently tied election as a referendum on racism.

Sure, some of Donald Trump's supporters are racist. But even the people who are racist and are voting for Trump aren't necessarily voting for Trump because they are racist; it is possible to be racist and have opinions on other things, and even opinions on other things that you care more about than your bigoted views....
Read more at http://jewishworldreview.com/0916/McArdle092016.php3#qjbWXT6lCXTqBc57.99

[Bigun]

Excellent! Nothing is as simple as some would like us to believe.

[montanajoe]

I think basically most people  vote in their own self interest.

So depending on the individual's particular circumstances it could be about race or economics or any other issue.

Most folks won't admit they are only voting in their own self interest thats why they don't get turned off when their candidate does a 180, as long as they believe that candidate will help them personally more than the other guy they will stick with him/her.