The obsession around these "moderate" undecided voters stems in my opinion from the idea the media has that it has found the hack for election analysis. The Presidential election boils down to a group of swing states and in those swing states there are a group of swing voters. Thus all other voices can be ignored since they have found …
The obsession around these "moderate" undecided voters stems in my opinion from the idea the media has that it has found the hack for election analysis. The Presidential election boils down to a group of swing states and in those swing states there are a group of swing voters. Thus all other voices can be ignored since they have found the magic key to the election. I really wish they would spend more time interrogating the notion of democracy rather than accepting GOP agitprop that the Electoral College is "What The Founders Intended" and therefore cannot be questioned. It seem likely that any GOP candidate but especially Trump, would likely only be able to win a bare EC victory and a substantial popular vote defeat. Yet rarely is the notion of minority rule questioned in terms of what it means for the majority of citizens.
I would bet their “swing voters” were actually people who lean Republican. In fact I bet there were no strong Democrats in that group given that the recent Pew Poll shows 75% of Democrats still support the job Biden has been doing.
def. seems to me a lot of these "independent" voters were folks who voted for Trump 2016, decided yeah, he's kind of insane, and then two months into Biden just went back to their GOP roots
And those were the people we desperately need to keep. They are mostly suburban college educated voters. Because many of those voters were rattled by the media obsession over defunding the police and socialism they split their tickets and voted for Republicans down ballot which is why Congressional Democrats didn’t do nearly as well as had been predicted.
I think the entire concept of “independent voter” is a fallacy the media created to make this kind of reporting more palatable. The “independents” they get always lean right. Always. I have never met or seen on a news segment someone claiming to be an “independent” who didn’t spout rightwing talking points to justify their position. I think they would vote for the next batshit crazy authoritarian in a heartbeat.
"Independents" is a term used when they want to appear unbiased. I have never met an "independent" who wasn't actually a Republican but who refuses to identify themselves as such.
Ali Velshi, weekends msnbc, has interviewed several small groups of citizens from all over the country w/varied political stances and interesting views about topics eg immigration, voter suppression, over the past couple of years. I found each group interview informative and no ringers were included to skew views one way or another. Eric’s point about Luntz’s focus groups being conducted among low information swing voters is an essential fact to include while explaining the ‘conclusions?’ drawn from these non representative focus groups. And the public buys these conclusions and interpret them as facts. Of course, that’s the BIG problem. More disappointments from msm.
The obsession around these "moderate" undecided voters stems in my opinion from the idea the media has that it has found the hack for election analysis. The Presidential election boils down to a group of swing states and in those swing states there are a group of swing voters. Thus all other voices can be ignored since they have found the magic key to the election. I really wish they would spend more time interrogating the notion of democracy rather than accepting GOP agitprop that the Electoral College is "What The Founders Intended" and therefore cannot be questioned. It seem likely that any GOP candidate but especially Trump, would likely only be able to win a bare EC victory and a substantial popular vote defeat. Yet rarely is the notion of minority rule questioned in terms of what it means for the majority of citizens.
these are also low information swing voters who are featured—but that’s never mentioned
I would bet their “swing voters” were actually people who lean Republican. In fact I bet there were no strong Democrats in that group given that the recent Pew Poll shows 75% of Democrats still support the job Biden has been doing.
def. seems to me a lot of these "independent" voters were folks who voted for Trump 2016, decided yeah, he's kind of insane, and then two months into Biden just went back to their GOP roots
Bear in mind also that Biden got a lot of independents in 2020 whose votes were based in their desire to vote out Trump more than anything else.
And those were the people we desperately need to keep. They are mostly suburban college educated voters. Because many of those voters were rattled by the media obsession over defunding the police and socialism they split their tickets and voted for Republicans down ballot which is why Congressional Democrats didn’t do nearly as well as had been predicted.
And the "suburban housewives" Trump adored ended up deserting him. I'm still amused by his delusional belief that women love him. Most don't.
I think the entire concept of “independent voter” is a fallacy the media created to make this kind of reporting more palatable. The “independents” they get always lean right. Always. I have never met or seen on a news segment someone claiming to be an “independent” who didn’t spout rightwing talking points to justify their position. I think they would vote for the next batshit crazy authoritarian in a heartbeat.
"Independents" is a term used when they want to appear unbiased. I have never met an "independent" who wasn't actually a Republican but who refuses to identify themselves as such.
Ali Velshi, weekends msnbc, has interviewed several small groups of citizens from all over the country w/varied political stances and interesting views about topics eg immigration, voter suppression, over the past couple of years. I found each group interview informative and no ringers were included to skew views one way or another. Eric’s point about Luntz’s focus groups being conducted among low information swing voters is an essential fact to include while explaining the ‘conclusions?’ drawn from these non representative focus groups. And the public buys these conclusions and interpret them as facts. Of course, that’s the BIG problem. More disappointments from msm.
We need a federal level fact-checker and/or bias monitor - (or something like that)…
And why the Electoral College must be abolished but highly unlikely in my lifetime.