Short memories

I’ve been thinking about 1984 lately—the year, not the novel. What got me thinking about it was the reduction in gas prices over the past few weeks, and this article in the New York Times about Donald Trump’s declining poll numbers among white working-class voters and how that might affect November’s elections.1 Forgive me for not being especially optimistic, but one of my distinct memories from 1984 makes me think the polls are lagging. A news story on one of the networks back in 1984 included short interviews with prospective voters. One of the voters was a young white man (he was about my age at the time) who said he was voting for Ronald Reagan. When asked why, he said “He got me my job back.” Of course, the man had been laid off early in the Reagan administration,2 but that didn’t enter into his reasoning. The only thing that mattered was that he was working again. It was my introduction to the short memories of American voters. via MoMA I can’t help but think we’ll see the same…