The Mind of the Voter

How do voters make decisions who to vote for? Drew Weston says his research has one BIG answer. It's not rational.

The vision of mind that has captured the imagination of Democratic campaign strategists for much of the last 40 years -- a dispassionate mind that makes decisions by weighing the evidence and reasoning to the most valid conclusions -- bears no relation to how the mind and brain actually work. When campaign strategists start from this vision of mind, their candidates typically lose.

Democrats typically bombard voters with laundry lists of issues, facts, figures, and policy positions, while Republicans offer them emotionally compelling appeals, whether to their values, principles, or prejudices. As a result, we have seen only one Democrat re-elected to the White House since Franklin Roosevelt -- Bill Clinton, who, like Roosevelt, understood how to connect with voters emotionally -- and only one Republican fail to do so -- George H.W. Bush, who ran like a Democrat and paid for it.

Essentially Drew Westen is suggesting that we choose our politicians based on emotion, then expect them to government based on logic and rationality. That sure would explain why polls show that American voters prefer Democratic positions even though conservatives keep winning election. Or at least, this is an alternative explanation to the one that the conservatives are stealing elections. I may add his explanation to those I consider useful, but I won't discard the clear evidence that "conservative" or "Republican" are just other ways of spelling the word "criminal."