This is an age old debate….do we follow the ideas of the GOP or the Dems…..one makes you a ‘fascist’ and the other makes you a ‘socialist’…..and all that division is just the media ramping up the animosities to sell content.
I have been saying for years that there is not much difference between the two….different sides of the same coin type of thing.
Actually the voter when asked no matter the party had similar concerns….
A new study suggests that perceived political polarization in the USA is influenced by a focus on difference, rather than similarities.
In just over three months, US voters will be asked to choose their new President. For most, the question is binary: Democrat or Republican? At the time of writing only 20 percent of independent voters are reportedly still undecided about who they will vote for. It’s a choice that has come to polarize the American population. In 2019, eight in ten US adults saw the divisions between the parties increasing and expressed concern over this trend. The lines have been drawn, or so it seems.
This is a story about how different ways of presenting the same data can strongly influence people’s opinions.
“There’s a general perception that Republican and Democratic voters are deeply divided but our new study suggests these differences of opinion between the two groups are greatly exaggerated and that the groups are actually very similar in the values they hold as important,” said author Dr Lukas Wolf from the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath in a statement.
In their study the team set out to investigate how presentation of similarity in values impacts voters’ perception of their differences. Dr Wolf believes that “Generally, the media and social scientists compare groups by describing differences, for example by using barplots, which ignore overlap and show exaggerated divisions in US society.”
The researchers used data from a previous study polling Democrats and Republicans on their values, and presented it to the participants in one of two ways. One group was shown the results as overlapping distributions, thereby highlighting the similarities. The other group was shown bar plots of the mean of the distributions, with the y-axis truncated to strongly emphasize the differences.
The participants who were shown distributions felt that Democrats and Republicans were more similar, and had more similar values. Importantly, this “increased their sense of hope about the future and inspired trust in people they have seen as fundamentally different to them,” said Dr Wolf. Perceived similarities also increased their perceived potential for compromise.
https://www.iflscience.com/democrats-vs-republicans-not-so-different-after-all-75359
Truthfully the voters have similar concerns the problem with solving problems is rhetoric gets in the way of solutions.
Instead of looking at the similarities they, the voter, allows the rhetoric to rule the conversation and the election. At this rate there will never be any solutions for the creeping problems of our society…..and compromise is a dirty word.
Way to go you dullards!
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
I have always found it odd that ‘Socialist’ is such a dirty word to Americans. It seems thatthe word is often used to describe Communists and yet amongst the Republican community it seems that Putin is quite favoured.
Not that what Russia practises could be called Communism or there would be no oligarchs allowed and the wealth more evenly distributed.
I remember an oline argumant with a ‘friend’ in 2012 when I asked about Obamacare, he went spare and angrilly argued that America is a Capitalist Country not a Socialist/Communist Country, effectively telling me that my Country which has Cradle to Grave healthcare is obviously Communist. Odd that in my 60+ years, at that point, I hadn’t realised this.
Given that your two parties are described now as ‘Two sides of the same coin’ I fail to see how their dissimilarities coulld be called ‘the same’. One side seems currently bent on an autocracy, in a Country that despises the idea of a Monarchy, whilst the other side seems to want a full Democracy holding to the Constitution already in place,which favours the People.
Please explain this dichotomy and the simillarities that I’m obviously missing. Hugs
If you look at what the two parties actually do then they are basically the same….one is louder than the other but in the end they are the same. chuq
I completely disagree with you, lobotero. One party, one side of the coin if you will, stands for wealth. Their goals are all aimed at increasing the wealth of the already wealthy at the expense of the other 90% of us. The other party is defined as being “Woke”, or caring about humanity, about ALL people, not just white, straight, wealthy people who are driven by what they call ‘Christianity’. No, there is very little in common between the two ‘sides’ at this time, and David is quite correct in what he says.
Sorry but I was basically talking about foreign policy, and fiscal policy…..they talk about differences but actions do not hold the differences up. chuq
One of the most important solutions for the creeping problems of our society right now is to make sure that Trump and his cronies do not get their hands on the government. If we are able to accomplish that— which I sincerely doubt — we can go from there ….because if they do get control, there will be no path forward for decades to come.
You are so sadly spot on….chuq
Most elections now come down to personalities; not policies, or similarities. You either love Trump, or see him for what he really is. The main difference between your largest political parties is in the leaders, and that’s the choice voters have. They get to choose Trump, or anyone but Trump. Let’s hope they make the right choice.
Best wishes, Pete.
I hate that the election is about beating Trump….there are so many problems that need attention and the election is all they can talk about….no policies at all. chuq
Since Trump is the root of all that is wrong in this nation, it is only logical that the election boils down to keeping a madman and his cronies out of the White House.
That is what I have been told. Thanx for your time and comments. chuq
The differences are smaller than they seem. I have been going over laws and policies enacted by the parties in power over the last few administrations. Many of them were loudly objected to by the other party at the time, but after the White House changed hands, were quietly accepted by the new president. It is a long list.
Same coin thing. chuq
?
?
Flip a coin between the two parties.
Yep about the way it is chuq