"We are not going back" is being interpreted by a huge percentage of Americans who are worse off under Biden, that things are not going to get better in the future and may in fact continue to get worse.
The economy was better under Trump than under Biden. People were better off under Trump than under Biden prior to Covid. People had more personal freedom under Trump than under Biden.
The more remarkable polling result is while people feel race relations did not improve or get worse under Trump, people including African Americans believe race relations got worse under both Obama's and Biden's presidency.
According to a Rasmussen survey...
“During the presidential campaign, Joe Biden supported the protests, promising action on ‘systemic racism,’ but most voters don’t think the country’s racial problems have improved,” the poll said. “Only 22% say race relations in America have gotten better since Biden was elected president. Forty percent (40%) say race relations have gotten worse since the election, while 34% say race relations are about the same.”"
https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/05/politics/obama-race-relations-poll/index.html
It is important when trying to make a point to separate one's personal feelings with what the feelings are of the identity group you are claiming to represent.
Nothing highlights Trump's success with respect to advancing the prospects of African Americans more than his dramatic increase in each election in his support among minorities, including an almost threefold increase in African American support.
I wish I could find more research on why minorities are gravitating away from the Democratic party towards Trump, but several findings do provide some insights.
Biden and Harris have focused on things like DEI and other issues, that promote racism even as they claim to promote "equity". As soon as you start to promote racial equity, you are coercing people to make decisions based on skin color. But think of it this way, every time someone gets preference based on skin color, someone else feels discriminated against based on skin color. How does that improve race relations?
Other studies have emphasized that the rate of immigration can contribute to greater feelings of racial and ethnic tension especially among the poor and workers. We see that in American cities, where African American women are protesting against the impact of immigrants on jobs, housing, and social services especially with respect to schools and health care services.
Excess immigration is bad for race relations. I say excess because no one cares as long as they don't feel their job or housing or social services are threatened by immigration, but that has not been true under Biden and Harris... and Harris was put in charge of addressing illegal immigration and got nothing done.
Contrast that with Trump's policies which one could argue are somewhat indifferent to race. Trump social policy can to some extent be reduced to the view that a rising tide benefits everyone, some people benefit more than others, but everyone feels like they are getting ahead when their wages are rising, and job opportunities are improving.
This is especially true, when those rising wages translate into greater purchasing power and are not being eroded by inflation and higher energy and food prices due to government green energy policies.
Said simply, Trump's Make America Great Again has been misconstrued to mean going back in time. It does not. It means to returning America to being a manufacturing powerhouse where everyone who wants to have a good paying job can get one. Where the average American family working a full-time job can afford a home. Where children graduate from high school with an education that prepares them for the future.
Clearly America is far more diverse racially, ethnically, and religiously than it was in the past. The "average" family is not the same, they are no longer predominantly white, and they don't have four children, and most don't go to church on Sunday morning. We are not going back to that America silly to think Trump thinks does not want an America where his Jewish daughter and grandchildren can thrive.
Trump gets it. The average family today wants what the average family had 50 years ago. The average family today, does not want to look like the average family of 50 years ago. And that is what Trump is referring to when he says Make America Great Again.
I want every one of my Asian American children and African American children to be able to look forward to a future where America is as safe as it felt when I was young. Where we spent our times trying to figure out what we would "be" someday, not whether we would be at all.
Trump's "social" platform is not based on racial politics, it is simply the byproduct of economic growth, job growth, and wage growth. When people feel better about their future, studies show they feel less threatened by other identity groups. In contrast, policies designed to cut an ever-shrinking economic pie "fairly" end up leaving everyone hungry.
Harris's policies are bad for minorities because they don't drive economic opportunities. You can try to put your finger on the scale to try to more fairly allocate those shrinking opportunities, but if the pie is shrinking people are not going to say... I feel better because other people are even worse off... they are simply going to say things have gotten worse.
