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I haven't read the research, just this article. I like this:
"It's good for us to understand the country is not made up of two warring campaigns"
roundsquare · 5157 days ago · link ·
Interesting, but not surprising. More often than not, the stuff non-professionals/wonks see in an area are the extremes. Think of any field: law, politics, medicine, science, etc... Lawyers, politicians, doctors and scientists (respectively) see the daily grind but everyone else just gets the most interesting stuff.
Nonetheless, its good to be reminded of this every now and then.
I think the whole thing is premised on finding an issue that lets you peel away at least 51% of the voting population. Inflame that issue in the media to get the greatest turn out you can, and it will override the other issues.
The republicans do this on scales both big and small, they definitely try to define elections into a issue>51% contest. Republicans are pretty sophisticated strategist and I'm sure they have some game theoreticians working this stuff out. Find a make or break issue, say Pro-life, that won't generally agree with many liberal and some conservative voters but will get the automatic alligence of a significant portion of voter, stand strong on it and grab 20% of the electorate, after that they just need to find an few issues to grab the remaining 30%.
Not saying that Republicans are unprincipled, they are just better organized and have found a way to settle the war between their 3-4 major camps long enough to run decent campaigns.
The majority of people could agree on many values like the piece says, but they majority of people are split on a number of hot button issues, that the media chooses to hammer on day after day.
And why wouldn't they, conflict helps sell cars and toothpaste.
The Dems have no grand strategy that I have been able to discern, mostly letting themselves be defined by the issues which the Republicans choose.
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I agree. I also feel that the press has evolved into a state that plays into this strategy by giving equal time to positions that have unequal factual basis, and by tolerating strong bias in reporting and analysis. I don't think many journalists have much independence anymore.
I don't really watch traditional news anymore for this reason. I sense that news is evolving, however, and I don't think that this strategy will remain as efficient for long.