The curious case of the Trump-Biden cookie contest
We've already known for a long time that this is an election like no other. It's hard to find a lot of Trump 2016 voters who have switched to Biden, but pollsters have told us that Biden continues to enjoy a wide polling lead. Biden-supporters have a hard time articulating reasons to support their candidate, other than his being Not Trump.
The expression "shy Trump voters" has been invested to describe people who fear retribution from mean-spirited and even violent Trump-haters. Yet we find this evidence from the town of Red Wing, Minnesota, on the Mississippi River. WCCO-TV reports:
A week ago, Hanisch Bakery in Red Wing launched its 2020 presidential cookie poll. The bakery tallies each Trump or Biden cookie purchased until election day.
The bakery says that demand this year has already surpassed what they saw in the last election.
Since 1984, the bakery claims the winner of their cookie poll has matched the winner of the popular vote.
"So far, President Trump has a very large lead of 2,576 cookies to 696 for Joe Biden," said Bill Hanisch. "So, I'll tell you, in the 25 years I've been here, I've never seen it like this."
WCCO TV screen grab.
That's roughly 4 to 1. I don't think anyone believes that Trump will pull four times the votes Biden does, even in Red Wing. In 2016, Goodhue County, where Red Wing is located, saw Trump outdraw Hillary Clinton by 18 percentage points, making it Trump Country. So are we to believe that Trump voters indulge in cookies far more than Biden-supporters? Or are there "shy Biden voters" suffering in silence in regions where Trump is popular?
I am honestly stumped by this datum. I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles.