tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post5013030611245702111..comments2023-09-11T08:58:24.710-06:00Comments on Reach Upward: Voters Don't Really Care About IssuesScott Hinrichshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-62621815150644270812009-10-09T10:44:47.390-06:002009-10-09T10:44:47.390-06:00"... we have a triumph of marketing over poli...<i>"... we have a triumph of marketing over politics."</i><br /><br />True words, indeed.Scott Hinrichshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-43992119476262192322009-10-09T08:09:21.853-06:002009-10-09T08:09:21.853-06:00To an extent, this seems to support my long-held c...To an extent, this seems to support my long-held contention that we have a triumph of marketing over politics. The important thing is that a candidate project an image: I'm really on your side, I am truly concerned about the things you are concerned about, I'm a man/woman of my word, and I'm going to make my sales pitch regardless of what question you ask me.<br /><br />Are we well served by this kind of politics? I don't think so, but we have a voting public that is ill-informed on most issues and misinformed by the media on many others and are not in a position to properly evaluate policy issues. We have a political process dominated by money, one in which the seriousness of a candidate and the viability of a candidate has far more to do with their ability to raise money than with their stands on policy issues. Changing either of those situations requires the sort of systemic change our political system will not permit.Charles Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02975241234146573609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-69420069790212556652009-10-08T18:18:50.062-06:002009-10-08T18:18:50.062-06:00Single issue candidates can win elections. The ou...Single issue candidates can win elections. The outgoing mayor of my city won his first election to address the injustice he saw when a major road in the city was being widened. The plan called for all of the new width to come from one side of the road, which just happened to be the side that this guy lived on.<br /><br />Stands on certain issues can tip a close race.<br /><br />It's easy for a single issue candidate to beat the drum for that issue and to be defined by that issue. If the timing is right, this kind of campaign can work. But issuing detailed issue statements on multiple issues doesn't work.<br /><br />Only the highest level matters to most voters when it comes to issues. They're simply not going to care very much about the details and nuances of a candidate's stand on most issues. Small groups will care about some things enough to seek detail. But it's rarely a broad crowd pleaser.<br /><br />I agree that voters will often vote according to identity politics. "There's someone that's like me and can understand where I'm coming from," seems to be the thinking. I've kind of soured on that kind of thing, because candidates that use that kind of leverage are frequently just using their supporters.<br /><br />I think Richard makes some very good points. We have oodles of problems in the wings just waiting to break loose. The well informed won't be surprised when these events occur.<br /><br />While I agree that we have a lot of people that are good at getting elected but not so good at doing the job for which they were elected, I think that at least some of them are smart enough to see what is coming down the pike. But they use this knowledge mainly for political advantage.Scott Hinrichshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-85407207839404141792009-10-08T16:04:58.389-06:002009-10-08T16:04:58.389-06:00I think knowing the policy details as well as the ...I think knowing the policy details as well as the politics is very, very important. The "surprise" issues that arise don't surprise elected officials who know a lot about the world.<br /><br />For example, those who knew Osama bin Laden had declared war on the USA weren't so surprised by the 9/11 attacks.<br /><br />Similarly, those who had studied the savings and loan fiasco of the 1980s probably weren't surprised when financial deregulation led to the collapse of investment banking. <br /><br />I'm worried that a lot of our politicians know how to get elected but are clueless about statesmanship.<br /><br />Thus we get dumb statements telling us "no one anticipated" this or that perfectly predicable catastrophe during the Bush administration. <br /><br />Maybe the ultimate example was Hurricane Katrina taking out New Orleans-- nothing was more widely predicted by the experts, yet the politicians were caught flat-footed.rmwarnickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10948594032787232166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-89804950134546855522009-10-08T00:27:01.725-06:002009-10-08T00:27:01.725-06:00In many elections, a single issue or community con...In many elections, a single issue or community concern can be overwhelming. In one California city, the issue was the fact that the city did not have its own school district. The city of 100,000 was divided among four other school districts. This was a huge community identity issue. The candidates who won election to the city council all agreed in the formation of their own school district.<br /><br />In another city, an individual won a city council seat by being the dog poop candidate. (Actually, everyone in town referred to it by another name.) The candidate won by saying that he would end the dog poop problem and clean up the town.<br /><br />In many states, an individual's stand on gun control can be the deciding issue.<br /><br />Other candidates win through identity politics. The only thing that is important to the majority of the electorate is the fact that the candidate shares a common identity with them. Jews vote for Jews. Blacks vote for Blacks. Mormons vote for Mormons. Look at John F. Kennedy's popularity among Catholics.Donald Lewin Nelsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06923492582382264299noreply@blogger.com