In a just released CNN/ORC poll, Hillary Clinton ranks ahead of Donald Trump on many issues, except for the economy:
Terrorism: Clinton 50-45 percent;
Immigration: Clinton, 51-44 percent;
Health care: Clinton, 55-39 percent;
Income gap: Clinton, 54-37 percent;
Foreign policy: Clinton, 61-36 percent;
Education: Clinton, 61-34 percent;
Climate change: Clinton, 63-30 percent
Economy: Trump, 50-45 percent
What’s interesting about this poll is that it supports my hypothesis, arising out of the 2012 election where Obama easily won: It’s no longer the economy, stupid.
This same poll shows Clinton beating Trump by 54-45 percent – essentially, in a landslide.
This, despite the fact that a majority of the same voters polled believe Trump would better handle the economy.
My point here is not whether Trump’s economic policies will be better than Clinton’s. A case can be made that they would be, only in that he might be inclined to cut some taxes and cut some spending, whereas Hillary Clinton will almost certainly continue down the road of higher taxes, more debt, more spending and more command-and-control central planning in Washington DC. Trump might, or he might not, go down this road; or he might offer the contradictory mixture of state planning and nominal relief from government Republicans often do. His desire to restrain trade is of particular concern, from a free market perspective. Protectionist policies, under President Herbert Hoover in the late 1920s (the Smoot-Hawley tariff) are blamed by many economists as contributing to the Great Depression.
Nevertheless, a majority of voters (in this poll, at least) believe Trump is more qualified to handle the economy than Clinton. Yet they still want Clinton, in a landslide?
Why? We can only assume it’s because of the other numbers revealed by the poll.
People assume Clinton will be better at handling education—by 61 to 34 percent! That’s beyond a landslide. Clinton favors government-run education. The worse education gets, the more we spend on it, and the more powerful and unaccountable the teachers’ unions become. Is Trump for or against these things? Nobody really knows, and we won’t know until or unless he becomes president. He claims he wants to defund or even close the federal Department of Education. But people know for sure where Hillary stands, and the majority appear to want centrally planned, government-run education over any private or liberalized alternative, and more than they want an improved economy.
We can go down the list and reach the same conclusions. Hillary is perceived as much better than Trump on closing an income gap. Since she’s arguably more of a socialist than he is, then it’s reasonable to think this. But why is that a good thing? Income inequality is an indication of a growing, private, for-profit economy. Everyone gets richer in a growing economy. If anything, a candidate who wants to close the income gap should be less popular, because closing the income gap—in the consistent case—means becoming more like Venezuela or Cuba. It’s Communism. Yet, in part because Hillary Clinton stands for the more obvious socialism than Donald Trump is perceived as favoring, she wins hands down.
As for a huge majority thinking Clinton will do better than anyone in foreign policy, I hardly know what to say. Benghazi? Continuing Obama’s policies of apologizing for America, praising Islam and doing virtually nothing to fight ISIS? I shudder to think that I might be living in a country where a majority are either this indifferent to, or even loathsome towards, their own survival and literal interests.
I know that many will suggest this is a CNN poll, and therefore biased towards Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. Maybe so. But the only poll that matters in the end is the election. In 2012, a number of polls suggested Mitt Romney would win, perhaps win big, and in the end he lost decisively. The economy was not doing well, and polls reflected Americans’ belief this was the case; yet Obama won anyway.
Where are the lovers of freedom? Does anyone even understand the difference between economic freedom and economic central planning? Does anyone even care? Where are the people who at least want prosperity? What happened to the days when the candidate (accurately or not) perceived as better for the economy won the election hands down, sometimes in a landslide?
These poll numbers, the extent to which they’re accurate, reveal the real problem in America. At most, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton are only a symptom. Until or unless Americans change their minds about these things, we won’t get the right candidates. And even if we do, we won’t let them do what has to be done: privatize and emancipate the American economy, while preserving and expanding the rights and liberty of the individual.
Follow Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Rehoboth Beach DE). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on Twitter at @MichaelJHurd1
Dr. Hurd is now a Newsmax Insider! Check out his new column here.