The Unpolitical Animal (A MUST-READ)

[ConservativeDemocrat]

In every Presidential-election year, there are news stories about undecided voters, people who say that they are perplexed about which candidate’s positions make the most sense. They tell reporters things like “I’d like to know more about Bush’s plan for education,” or “I’m worried that Kerry’s ideas about Social Security don’t add up.” They say that they are thinking about issues like “trust,” and whether the candidate cares about people like them. To voters who identify strongly with a political party, the undecided voter is almost an alien life form. For them, a vote for Bush is a vote for a whole philosophy of governance and a vote for Kerry is a vote for a distinctly different philosophy. The difference is obvious to them, and they don’t understand how others can’t see it, or can decide whom to vote for on the basis of a candidate’s personal traits or whether his or her position on a particular issue “makes sense.” To an undecided voter, on the other hand, the person who always votes for the Democrat or the Republican, no matter what, must seem like a dangerous fanatic. Which voter is behaving more rationally and responsibly?

If you look to the political professionals, the people whose job it is to know what makes the fish bite, it is clear that, in their view, political philosophy is not the fattest worm. “Winning Elections: Political Campaign Management, Strategy & Tactics” (M. Evans; $49.95) is a collection of articles drawn from the pages of Campaigns & Elections: The Magazine for People in Politics. The advice to the political professionals is: Don’t assume that your candidate’s positions are going to make the difference. “In a competitive political climate,” as one article explains, “informed citizens may vote for a candidate based on issues. However, uninformed or undecided voters will often choose the candidate whose name and packaging are most memorable. To make sure your candidate has that ‘top-of-mind’ voter awareness, a powerful logo is the best place to start.” You want to present your candidate in language that voters will understand. They understand colors. “Blue is a positive color for men, signaling authority and control,” another article advises. “But it’s a negative color for women, who perceive it as distant, cold and aloof. Red is a warm, sentimental color for women—and a sign of danger or anger to men. If you use the wrong colors to the wrong audience, you’re sending a mixed message.”

It can’t be the case, though, that electoral outcomes turn on things like the color of the buttons. Can it? When citizens stand in the privacy of the booth and contemplate the list of those who bid to serve, do they really think, That’s the guy with the red logo. A lot of anger there. I’ll take my chances with the other one? In Civics 101, the model voter is a citizen vested with the ability to understand the consequences of his or her choice; when these individual rational choices are added up, we know the will of the people. How accurate is this picture?

<snip>

Seventy per cent of Americans cannot name their senators or their congressman. Forty-nine per cent believe that the President has the power to suspend the Constitution. Only about thirty per cent name an issue when they explain why they voted the way they did, and only a fifth hold consistent opinions on issues over time. Rephrasing poll questions reveals that many people don’t understand the issues that they have just offered an opinion on. According to polls conducted in 1987 and 1989, for example, between twenty and twenty-five per cent of the public thinks that too little is being spent on welfare, and between sixty-three and sixty-five per cent feels that too little is being spent on assistance to the poor. And voters apparently do punish politicians for acts of God. In a paper written in 2004, the Princeton political scientists Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels estimate that “2.8 million people voted against Al Gore in 2000 because their states were too dry or too wet” as a consequence of that year’s weather patterns. Achen and Bartels think that these voters cost Gore seven states, any one of which would have given him the election.
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The entire article can be found here.


The upshot is that the vast majority of people do not understand - or care to understand - the connection between governmental policy and their daily lives. This is hardly unique to politics - count all the people who carry massive amounts of credit card debt at incredibly high interest rates (that they could refinance), people who smoke, are morbidly obese, etc.

Even those who believe they've considered the facts rarely have, as you can tell by talking to any dittohead you run across. Nearly all of them have no clue how much money the GOP wastes, or that their tax bill would be lower under the Democrats.

Please understand this when you talk to independent voters. Keep your message simple. Don't assume they know even the most basic information. It's not that they're stupid. It's just that all those brain cells you've allocated to remembering Bush's mendacity, they've devoted to such things as the batting average of Willie Mays in 1963.

[wurzel]

1. Anyone who is still "undecided" is an idiot. Treat them as such.

[The empressof all]

2. It's not the undecided that are idiots

Let's give the undecideds the benefit of the doubt. At least they aren't willing to commit for whatever reason. They may not have the information they need yet to decide. The ones who anger me the most are those who have committed to Bush blindly without thought or concern about how their decision will affect them personally or the nation as a whole. The vast majority of Bush supports have been hurt financially or personally by Bush policy. They don't see it. They don't want to believe it. These are the truely frightening people.

[Craig Roberts]

3. Good article and interesting points

I think we sometimes forget that the outcome of this election is going to be decided by people who are very unlike us in that they have little interest in politics.

I just thought I would say something positive to balance wurzel's foolish and childish comment...

[teryang]

4. Too dry or too wet- there goes Florida!

I hope this is true.