Why Trump Is Getting Popular With Democrats

Whether you like President Trump or you loathe him, his economic and tax policies are gaining approval with more and more Democratic voters. How do we know this? At his re-election rally in Tupelo, Mississippi on November 1, 27% of the attendees were registered Democrats. At his rally in Lexington, Kentucky on November 4, 23% of attendees were Democrats. Those numbers are huge and growing.

Is it because Democrats are finally coming to like President Trump personally, even though their leaders are doing everything they can to impeach him? I don’t think so. I believe it’s because Mr. Trump’s economic and social policies – more jobs, higher wages, falling income inequality, a more equitable criminal justice system, and even progress toward curbing the opioid crisis – are benefitting more and more Americans, including rank-and-file Democrats.

Let’s take the recent employment data as an example, which have been solid across all socio-economic groups, but especially for minorities. African American unemployment reached an all-time low of 5.4% in October, resulting in the smallest gap between black and white unemployment rates ever recorded.

The Hispanic unemployment rate also reached an all-time low of 3.9% in September, and the Hispanic-American labor force participation rate reached its highest level in a decade last month. No wonder more Americans, including Democrats, are warming up to Trump.

The employment data consistently show that jobs are plentiful – even as the global economic slowdown has kept US GDP growth from matching the strength of the labor market. For the first time ever, there are more unfilled job openings, 6.7 million, than there are available workers to fill them, 6.4 million.

Now let’s turn to income inequality which is a pet-peeve of the mainstream media and most Democrats. They continually claim that income inequality is getting worse. Yet the recent Census Bureau report on income and poverty found that income inequality declined slightly in 2018. Yet you won’t hear that in the mainstream media.

Likewise, the Census Bureau report found that the share of household income actually increased the most for the lowest 20% of wage earners (+3.4%), while the top 20% was the only quintile to experience a decline in income. I’ll bet you didn’t hear that either.

Third quarter corporate earnings were stronger than expected, and the stock market reached new all-time highs last week – raising the value of retirement plans and sending consumers into the holiday shopping season with more money to spend. As I explained on Tuesday, corporate profits are likely overstated, and have been for a long time, but they still beat expectations.

Much of this economic success is the result of President Trump’s historic tax cuts that included middle-income Americans and his elimination of many unnecessary government regulations. Most of the rest is due to the progress he’s made in other policy areas such as new trade deals and a renewed focus on domestic energy.

Here’s another accomplishment the media gives the president no credit for: criminal justice reform. Mr. Trump has achieved the most significant criminal justice reforms in at least a generation since taking office, addressing a long-standing priority of many Democratic voters. The “First Step Act” reduces sentences for certain drug felonies and other non-violent crimes, fixes the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine and allows prisoners to more easily earn early-release credits for participating in educational programs.

And another: For the first time in 29 years, total drug overdoses in America finally declined in July, falling by 5%, thanks to the bipartisan “Support for Patients and Communities Act” that President Trump signed last year. The Support Act has modernized and expanded addiction treatment, and is funding crucial research into alternative pain medications that could eventually eliminate the need for addictive opioid medications.

Of course, don’t expect to hear about these bipartisan achievements from the anti-Trump media. The Democrat leadership is desperately trying to humiliate and unseat a president who’s done more for their voters in less than three years than they ever have.

If Democrats in Congress really cared for the people they represent, they’d get back to work on important issues, such as passing the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal, lowering the cost of prescription drugs and coming up with healthcare proposals that might actually work. Those are the issues most Americans really care about.

But while the Dems’ leadership is singularly focused on trying to impeach Trump, that doesn’t mean rank-and-file voters don’t understand and appreciate how much better off they are today than just a few years ago. Like many other Americans, they may not like President Trump personally, but they like his policies and want to see them continued.

That’s why Democrats are increasingly showing up at Trump rallies. Hat tip to Andy Puzder for first bringing this to my attention in a column that recently appeared on Fox News.