Wednesday Morning Rant

With the primaries more or less over and the general election now peeking over the horizon, everybody's favorite silly season pastime is getting ready to kick into high gear: polling. Yes, "polls are for strippers" and I don't much care what public polling says. This is especially true given some of the, ahem, "interesting surprises" in various primaries (especially in California and Minnesota) that seem to indicate that polling won't reflect reality even if polling itself could be a reliable indicator of reality. Nevertheless, we persist in one of our preferred national distractions.

Although I do not find polling to be interesting or particularly meaningful, I do sometimes find interest in reporting about polling. Regardless of what any given poll says, its coverage will help reveal what the establishment's opinion is or provide additional clarity about establishment attitudes. Fox News recently provided a good example of what I find interesting about poll coverage. They were covering a Marquette poll that included questions about Trump's job approval.

The Fox News coverage is interesting in its framing:

Fox News Power Rankings: As Democrats turn left, Black voters tap the brakes
Two-thirds of young Americans and 71% of Hispanics disapprove of Trump, but Black voters haven't fully returned

The headline and subheadline alone tell the story, but the article removes any ambiguity about the framing:

Black voters haven't come all the way home yet. One in five Black Americans approves of Trump, but only 69% say they'll support a Democrat in their district. That’s 21 points below Biden's 2020 share of the Black vote, when he thanked those voters for delivering his victory.

Note the language. Black voters have yet to "fully return" or "come home" to the Democrats in terms of candidate support. You see, black voters belong to the Democrat Party. They are Party property. They may have strayed over the past couple of years, but they'll return home eventually. Just like a lost pet. As one of the least sophisticated press outlets, Fox News is more foolish than most in inadvertently saying the quiet part out loud, but this is still a somewhat dramatic example of the phenomenon.

The establishment attitude is pretty clear: black people are owned by the Democrats. Any deviation is merely a temporary condition, and it is fully expected for them to come to their senses and quit stepping out with their Republican side-pieces. It matters not what the Parties do, the Democrats are entitled to black voters. They own black voters. It just can't be any other way. As Paul Anka put it, "That's just the f**king way it is." Only an establishment so comfortable in its status quo could be so nakedly contemptuous while describing who is entitled to who's votes.

This is how the political class views Americans, and is the root point of identity or other interest-group politics. One Party or another is entitled to racial votes, to education-level votes, to geographic votes, to _______ votes. Any skew between reality and expectation is reality's fault, and the aggrieved party didn't lose, he was merely cheated out what was his by right. This attitude is deeply cynical, defined by contempt and extremely distasteful. They fret over polls if it shows they're being cheated by voting blocs they rightfully own, and fawn over them when it shows everybody on the plantation where they belong. It's as grotesque as it is pervasive, although it is usually better-couched than Fox News managed.

Every election, there is always at least some squawking from somewhere about "entitlement reform." I'm all for it, and it should start in the Parties. None of them are entitled to anything or anyone - and their naked contempt for the voter is getting more than a little bit old.

posted by Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM

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