There's been a lot of commentary about how Biden is ushering in a new era of robust, active government, hearkening back to New Deal/Great Society/pre-Reagan days. Worth noting that Americans' appetite for bigger govt seems to predate his election win. 🧵
E.g., since 1992, Gallup has been asking whether government should do more to solve the country's problems. Last Aug/Sep, for the first time ever, more than half of respondents (54%) agreed. The previous peak was shortly after 9/11, when it hit 50%. 
Of course Biden was running for president at the time, and pitching many of the policies he's rolling out now. But...we were also in a pandemic. If there are no atheists in a foxhole, there are also presumably (fewer) libertarians in a pandemic.
Maybe it was Biden who changed Americans' taste for gov't intervention, maybe it was covid. Probably to some extent it was both. Share wanting govt to "do more" had also been inching up even pre-pandemic -- and was reflected in some of Trump's industrial-policy forays too
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