What people vote on

Those of us in the anti-Trump camp love to play the Horribleness Game. Donald Trump does something horrible. We are righteously appalled. We send emails to our friends saying, “Did you hear about this horrible thing Trump said?” We click on articles that fulminate against the horrible thing. We watch TV shows in which the pundits emote shock and dismay at the horrible thing. We feel very morally superior about ourselves and very morally appalled by that horrible man. It’s very satisfying. In fact, it’s addictive.

But somehow the horrible thing—or even the sum total of all the horrible things—never seems to end Trump’s career. He’s still leading in the polls, especially in swing states. So then we switch to the Wait Until They Know Game. Wait until voters know the latest thing Trump said about immigrants. Wait until voters know what’s really in the indictments.

The problem with these games is they don’t work. Trump is in his strongest political position ever. According to the latest New York Times/ Siena poll, 97 percent of the people who voted for Trump would do so again, while only 83 percent of Joe Biden supporters say the same.

That’s because many voters don’t see politics as a place to go for moral affirmation. They want to know who will create a good environment in which they can lead their lives, and right now they trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle the economy, to handle immigration, to be generally competent. It’s about policies.

There was a lot to like about Biden’s State of the Union address, but the most important thing was this: He understands that if you want to beat Trump, you have to show you have better policies that will improve people’s lives. It’s less emotionally satisfying, but it’s what people actually vote on.