THIS is the level of ignorance- 'Did Joe Biden drop out?'

[sarisataka]

'Did Joe Biden drop out?'

On Election Day, many Americans appeared to be surprised by President Joe Biden’s absence from the 2024 ballot, despite his withdrawal from the race months earlier.

Google searches for "Did Joe Biden drop out?" saw a notable spike, particularly in urban areas and key states such as Pennsylvania, Washington, and North Carolina, where interest in his candidacy appeared strongest.

Biden announced his decision to step aside on July 21, officially endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee following a debate performance in June that prompted questions about his ability to compete against Republican candidate Donald Trump.

The decision was widely publicized, but search data suggests that a significant number of voters were still unclear about Biden’s candidacy as they headed to the polls.

https://www.fox9.com/news/biden-drop-out-search-election-states

Voters are so disconnected from politics, they don't even know who is running. At the moment, I cannot wrap my head around that level of unawareness so I have no idea how to overcome it, or even if it is possible.

[Walleye]

1. It must take a lot of effort to avoid knowing facts. I feel like I get them through osmosis.

[mcar]

2. They are truly disconnected

SO and I don't watch much live TV (we record what we want and FF through ads), so we didn't see too many political ads this cycle.

My sister who lives in PA, OTOH, was bombarded by ads. They voted for Harris, but she said there were so many ads that they hated everyone running.

My point is that there are many people who pay no attention to the reality of the campaign but do see incessant ads. In non swing states, they probably saw next to nothing about the candidates.

It's pretty sad.

[DeeDeeNY]

14. I can deal with the ignorance but

If you're too busy to know what's going on then you should not be voting. Or if you want to vote, then make a strong effort to know what's going on.

[John1956PA]

3. The AI search algorithm proffered that question as a suggested search.

Some people clicked on that link. Not as many people actually typed that question into the search window.

[Ray Bruns]

4. No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.

Fact!

[generalbetrayus]

20. The only successful business enterprises Drumpf has realized in recent years

have depended on the low intelligence of the American people.

[jaxexpat]

5. Yep, it's hard to argue with evidence like that. We are, for sure, a stupid and degenerate species.

[Ysabel]

6. I know some people who are that disconnected...

I thought after leaving Facebook and Twitter I was missing out on a lot and yes I miss some but still keep up pretty well...

But some of the people I know just drink too much and / or do drugs and don't pay any attention and others just work so hard and so much and are so overworked they just go home and eat and then quickly to bed...

Hell, since I've been sick my husband is so overworked taking care of me 24/7 and working his main job that he's exhausted all the time but he reads everyday and keeps up with all of it and talks with me about it...

- Adding that I'd believe it if I heard my youngest brother say something like that / h'es a drunk and is really dumb...

[JCMach1]

7. The number of people who don't understand the function of blinkers

Or how to change headlight brightness should tell you the current levels of idiocy.

I swear Idiocracy was prophecy, not satire...

[Pinback]

21. ...or who think COVID masking is "virtue signaling" (nt)

[Butterflylady]

8. I can understand that some people did not know it.

Heck, when someone posted Joe's accomplishments, I never heard about most of them. I was shocked by some them because they were huge. Media didn't do it's job, however, maybe we should have done more.

[DeeDeeNY]

23. Exactly

Biden didn't talk about his accomplishments nearly enough, while on the other hand Trump was constantly boasting about what he'd done even when most of it was exaggerated or outright lies.

[OldBaldy1701E]

9. States like my home one corrupted and disrupted education for decades.

What else did you expect? (They also ruined town councils and other departments in said governments.)

[COL Mustard]

10. If you're that uninvolved, and frankly, that dumb...

You shouldn't have a vote. I don't want to go back to literacy tests or when only white male property owners over 21 could vote, but damn. That lack of engagement is stunning.

[Texin]

11. It makes one wonder on which planet they spend most of their time. I can't even begin to comprehend this.

[pfitz59]

12. Too many folk live in a 'fog'

Focused on school, work, church, hobbies and entertainments. Their day-to-day life is void of critical thinking and a greater awareness of the world outside their comfort zone. We on this website are far more attuned to political currents and the ebb and flow beyond ourselves. Anyone who has ever watched 'Jay Walking' on Leno or Kimmel's street interviews knows how out-of-touch the average people are. Deliberate ignorance is the American norm. I've heard acquaintances brag about staying out of the information stream. Tune out the news, turn on the tube and vote how your Pastor or spouse tell you, if you vote at all. I asked some people on Nov 6th if they voted, and they said, "There was an election?" I kid you not! The fate of our nation and the world has always come down to the tiny percentage of voters who turn out.

[AmandaRuth]

13. how about "I didn't know tariffs would crash the economy and raise prices"

as has been reported by all the major news outlets since the douchebag was elected

[appleannie1]

15. My learning disabled son called upset because "that mean man won"

He went on to say that "That is wrong" He said when his staff took him to the place where you vote he saw that name on the screen so he voted for the other name. He has the mind of about an 8 year old. That should give you a clue how well the DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICAN is succeeding. In very few years the next generation will not be able to read or write.

[johnnyfins]

16. This is a bullshit story

[sarisataka]

18. Really?

Tell that to Google

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%207-d&geo=US&q=did%20joe%20biden%20drop%20out&hl=en-US

[bif]

17. The same folks who were all for banning Arabic numerals.

[SweetieD]

19. I think part of Kamala's problem was that people literally did not know who she was until this summer.

I really don't know if the average person realized she was Vice President for the last 4 years.

Saw so many man on the street interviews saying misogynistic and racist stuff like... claiming she would not know how to talk to world leaders, world leaders would not respect her, she was not "qualified". I literally don't think most people knew she was VP and that she was actually doing real work over the last 4 years. I know these attitudes are borne in racism and misogyny. But the people were so matter of fact saying it. It was as if they thought she has not done any of that.

[generalbetrayus]

22. Things have been kind of hectic the last few days, and I may be misremembering,

but I believe one of the things Kamala Harris said during her pep rally the day after the election was that we had the greatest education system in the world. Now I admit that we draw a lot of foreign students to this country to participate in our higher education system, but, come on Kamala, the pre-college/university system is NOT the greatest in the world. K-12 public education in this country is underfunded, dumbed down because of underfunding, and constantly under attack from Republicans who stand to benefit from keeping the general public ignorant.

[ReRe]

24. Sadly, yes it is true that there is a section of adults

in this society who are totally blind to politics. Mostly because they weren't taught to think as they were growing up at home or in school, especially in high school. And most of them did not attend even one year of college. Therefore, they are unable to see the world as a whole. Education is so important and this society has failed it's people terribly on this issue. If we (our country as a whole) can't dig into the backwoods of every single state in this country and truly educate every single child from kindergarten-thru some, if not four years of college, then this is what we will get.

Then you have a larger section of adults (which includes the one mentioned above plus some college educated folks) who are working their fingers to the bones to "put-food-on-the-table", so to speak. Wages are simply too low and the cost of living is too high, and they are too exhausted at the end of the day to give politics a second thought.

Oh, there's more. There's the section of people (which includes the aforementioned groups) who are psychologically impaired by the bullies every step of their life.

You see? And I'm sure others can add more and more reasons why we have grown adults who live their lives unaware that politics might have something to do with their sad confusing lives.

Have at it fellow DUers!