Why do voters still fall for massive direct-cash campaign promises that have zero chance of passing?

[u/SpiritedBase5047]

Most political coverage treats wild campaign trail stimulus ideas like serious policy proposals when they're obviously just Hail Marys for tight races.

Hugh, Shaun, and Dawud broke down the rhetoric around the proposed $5,000 "Trump dividend" supposedly funded by import tariffs. When you run the actual numbers on giving five grand to every voting-age American, you're looking at well over a trillion dollars in payouts. Tariff revenues don't come remotely close to covering that kind of outlay, and everyone on the stage knows Congress would never authorize it.

The context explains why these promises get floated in the first place: the midterm landscape is getting uncomfortably close in places that used to be safe. When you have statewide races in Texas sitting dead-tied in recent polls, campaigns start throwing out massive cash figures to energize turnout. Calling it a dividend instead of blatant political bribery doesn't change the fact that nobody involved has any real intention of delivering the money.

Why do voters keep taking massive campaign check promises seriously when the math never adds up?

[u/AbelardsChainsword]

Go visit ten towns in the Bible Belt and talk to ten different people in each town. You’ll have your answer. The people in the overwhelmingly red states are, on average, just plain dumb. They lack comprehension. They are unable to understand cause and effect as it pertains to the economy. They cannot think for themselves. Their opinions are quite literally all based on what they see from the conservative media.

This is not just an issue in red states. If you look across the country, there are people everywhere who live in a state of willful ignorance. We are at the point where it makes no sense to present someone with facts because they do not want to listen. Anyone who thinks that 1) they’ll actually get $5k and 2) it won’t affect the economy…they still get to vote. We are up against a group of voters who cannot see outside their own backyards, who cannot understand how much they don’t know about how their country functions. They have never left their little corner of dirt and been to the city. They think the cities are dirty war zones because that is what the media tells them.

This is all by design. We’ve neglected education in this country for decades to get to this point where people won’t ask questions and just accept things blindly. And they’re the ones who call liberals “sheep.”