To preface I'm Canadian so I can only observe your elections, but your story really hit home with me. Back in 2016 I also thought Trump was a ridiculous joke candidate at first, but the more I listened to his rhetoric the more I thought he genuinely had good intentions for the country when it came to tackling issues like massive unemployment. The only counter arguments I heard were things like he's racist, orange etc. Reasons to vote Hillary mainly boiled down to: she's a woman, and she isn't Trump. Wasn't a great sell for me. On election night I was still in high school studying for a test, but I kept the election tab open because what the heck. This was the first American election I actually felt investment in.

The other problem I had with a lot of people on the left is the "let them eat cake" mentality when it came to middle Americans losing their jobs and livelihoods. It was like they viewed everyone who isn't them as the South Park "they took our jobs" rednecks. As far as I saw the left were dismissing the concerns of the working class because they didn't matter in their eyes. The mentality was like if you don't suddenly switch careers in an instant it's your fault. If you're still working at McDonald's or driving a truck tough shit. That didn't sit well with me, because it just wasn't realistic that this large percentage of the population would suddenly find new jobs overnight with no transition period.

Similar to you I heard about Yang in the Joe Rogan podcast. I don't regularly listen but for some reason I decided to give it a chance. Andrew Yang seems to really understand why people voted for Trump and seeks to tackle many of those issues. When I listen to him I feel a sense of sincerity that I never got from other politicians. He acknowledges problems and takes a logical approach on how to resolve them.

So that's why even though I can't vote in your elections I'm still rooting for Yang.