Moore: Democrats will pay price for hurting the economy in the election

At some point, we will move past the health scare of the coronavirus, and Americans will be surprised and horrified by the severe damage we have inflicted on our society. The polls show that most Americans support the lockdown now. Voters continue to have great fears about this pandemic and have lesser concerns about the economy. But Scott Rasmussen and others are finding these numbers shifting toward the direction of a safe opening of our society and our economy with each passing day.

Democrats have defined themselves as the shutdown party and, in the short term, that has served them well. The lockdown governors such as Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan have lofty approval ratings. The Republican governors who have opened up their states are less popular. Government power and restrictions have been popular during this time of crisis. This is what liberals believe in.

In Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pushed a massive $3 trillion pork barrel spending package through the House that redistributes income to numerous left wing causes, like those overinflated pensions run by blue states, and it does not even pretend to assist the private economy. This 1,800 page legislation mentions the economy less than five times.

Big government is popular today, leaving Donald Trump behind Joe Biden in the polls. But the election is not tomorrow. It is six months from now in November. It is a pretty good bet that, by then, the election will very likely be about one issue, and that is indeed the economy. Who can better lead our nation out of a mini depression imposed by the government?

Come fall, it is highly probable that the economy and the stock market will still be greatly hobbled by the aftermath of the lockdowns. There will be a massive amount of human suffering that results from what our politicians have done to our lives and our jobs. Americans are also likely to observe an economy that gets much better in red states than in blue states.

Voters will see the chaos in cities led by Democrats, particularly New York and Los Angeles. They will see people fleeing from blue states in the north to red states in the south, where businesses are treated like assets instead of criminals. They will realize that Democrats are the party of welfare, high taxes, and more government restrictions on the private economy.

It speaks volumes about modern Democrats that the faithful have fallen in love with Andrew Cuomo. He is the king of lockdown mentality, with New York decimated byl his command and control dictates. Indeed, New York already had the worst economy out of the 50 states, with more than one million residents leaving the state since Cuomo became governor. Many Democrats even want Cuomo to replace Biden on the party ticket.

Some conservatives wonder if Democrats are intentionally flattening the economy to destroy Trump. I do not actually believe that. Instead, I think the Democrats really believe that their ideas of radical redistribution will make the world a better place. Half of the country dislikes Trump. But on the decisive issue of who Americans trust on the economy, Trump beats Biden. Democrats have shown voters that they will place health, safety, and fairness over the economy and plain financial common sense.

Americans are about to get a taste of the devastation that those priorities will lead to in the months ahead. Our cities may start to look like Caracas in Venezuela. So at that point, Americans will have had enough. They will likely turn away from radical leftist ideology and turn to the guy who has shown that his policies can return our nation to robust prosperity.

Stephen Moore (@StephenMoore) is an economic consultant for Freedom Works and served as an adviser with the 2016 campaign of Donald Trump.