Imagine you’re a muckety-muck editor at the once-vaunted New York Times, and the following results of a spanking-new Times focus group show up on your computer screen.
Independent voters from around the country had scathing remarks to describe President Biden in a focus group published Tuesday, with most admitting they are leaning toward former President Trump in 2024 despite their own derisive assessments of him.
What would you think? That I could put in writing, I mean.
After the initial horror gave way to semi-rational thinking, I suppose I, as a Times muckety-muck, would wonder “What the hell happened?” Like, how were the questions worded, or how the focus group voters were selected, because surely— surely these results can’t be right.
So the Times spoke at length with 13 undecided, independent voters about the two leading candidates and the issues most important to them. The voters, ranging from 22-64 years old, were most concerned about the state of the economy, with the majority citing the rising costs of groceries and their other bills. Of the 13, 12 said they would base their vote on the issue, with 11 saying they were leaning toward Trump in November.
“Oh, the humanity!” must think muckety-mucks.