I kind of agree with you and I kind of don’t.

It speaks a lot to what people believe and how much misinformation is out there.

A lot of Republicans vote Republican mostly out of habit, they don’t follow the news so they don’t know what’s being said. Or, they see the same hate, extreme rhetoric coming out of both sides so they pay it no heed. Fears of socialism are real; though those were unfounded accusations, the narrative played well apparently, much better than anyone would have expected.

I was disheartened by the lack of a strong repudiation of Trump too. I can’t tell you how much. It does speak a lot to beliefs that the vote was split almost 50/50 along the same regional areas as always. I don’t mean core beliefs, but beliefs about the opposite party and the best way to promote those issues deemed important.

Turns out, the economy was by far the single most important issue of concern to everyone, Republican and Democrat alike. Democrats wasted too much time answering charges against socialism when the far left part of the party do want socialism. In retrospect, they would have been better served across middle America by delineating the difference between socialism as an economic model and the need for sound social policies to rebuild the middle class. Because the Republicans successfully pushed an anti- socialism agenda whether it was true or not.