What skill, ability, or attribute do you want in a president? If you could choose one thing, what would it be? Disregard height as a requirement, which President Trump appears to believe is a necessary qualification. Do you want a president who is smart? Has some kind of experience that makes you believe they would succeed in policy-making? Do you want someone who has some kind of experience that makes you think they could run a large, complex organization? All of these seems like plausible reasons to support a candidate. As I have watched the 2020 democratic debates between the many potential nominees, one issue has stood out to me that these politicians apparently believe voters care about, and therefore highlight as one of their main qualifications. What is this personal attribute?
Time after time, many of the candidates have highlighted how poor they are, how poor their parents were, how they started dirt-poor with nothing, etc. At the forefront of the policy debate seems to be wealth-aversion, and, as a result, there are many tax proposals out there meant specifically to not only target the wealthy, but, to punish the wealthy (and eliminate them). As part of this poverty-love, any politicians with any claim to poorness will highlight that claim. Were you once poor, regardless of your current status solidly in the 1% (or .000001%)? Flaunt it. Note that, for example, you were “for 36 years … the poorest man in Congress.” Or, you might remind voters that you are the “lone person on this stage who’s not a millionaire, let alone a billionaire.” There are many examples of this. Even if you have not been poor since you were a child—talk that up. And, remind people un-poor the other candiates are, even if it ends up being a billionaire wealth shaming someone for being a millionaire.
I can completely see trying to make the point that the position in life one has achieved was due solely to that person’s effort—they didn’t inherit what they have, but rather, through their brilliance and hard work got to where they are, and will use that same hard work and cunning for the American people as president. But, in many cases, this was not the point of the discussion—rather, it was that being rich is inherently bad, and, therefore, the candidates embrace any relationship they have with poverty, no matter how distant. Poorness is popular, and, I suppose, poverty polls well.
