Theory: Republican Primary voters are stupid
I’ve read a lot theories about what Trump might be up to. From Michael Moore to George Will, these theories are proliferating because the one thing he does not appear to be doing is running for President. I think the theories are malarkey, and that Trump thinks he can do the job, wants to be President, and is running earnestly for the office, just badly.
So I have a competing theory to throw into the mix. Republican primary voters are stupid. They knowingly voted for a person who showed no signs of being able to win the office. They (Republican Primary voters) are just dummies who made a dumb choice. If you examine their personal lives, you would probably find a robust record of bad choices.
Some tend to place “angry” above stupid on the list of things motivating Republican primary voters, but isn’t that really the same thing? What is anger in the context of a democracy other than an outworking of basic stupidity? Sure they are gullible, and have been taken advantage of by people like Roger Ailes, Glenn Beck, and Donald Trump but isn’t gullible is just another word for stupid?
It is hard to blame Trump for the mess the GOP is in. It could very well have be Ted Cruz losing right now. If Republican primary voters are stupid enough to nominate a thin skinned compulsive liar like Trump, they are certainly capable of nominating a thin skinned compulsive liar like Ted Cruz. They are dummies.
That said…when mid-term elections roll around, the Democrats manage to consistently out stupid the Republicans, but that is a topic for another time.
It has long been true that the right gets their news from different sources than the rest of the world (i.e., FOX News). I submit that what’s happening now is that a significant core of the right have gone beyond FOX and are getting their news from wacko sources like Breitbart et al. In fact, Trump cleaned up in the GOP primaries by attacking the kinds of GOP officials touted on FOX.
I see it in my Fox News loving in laws. The Fox News business model depends on constantly ratcheting up their viewers anxiety and misanthropy. So some 30% of Americans are at a psychological breaking point. The 70% remaining sees that and doesn’t want anything to do with it.
I think that stupidity a much too simple answer. I think it’s a combination of factors, confirmation bias (disregarding facts that are in conflict to one’s beliefs), and nostalgia for simpler times when there was only good and evil, black and white, when men were men, and everyone generally knew their place.
It is also self-imposed ignorance as a response to a world so complex that it defies comprehension, partially brought about by the unprecedented access to information, including disinformation, where secret fears are given voice and a community. So if stupidity is a euphemism for all of the above, then yeah stupidity.
Campaigns to increase voter turnout are a disservice because there is no parallel campaign to increase voter knowledge of the issues and candidates. The result is people voting who should not be anywhere near a ballot box because their sole criterion is tribal association. Political organizations (and special interest groups such as unions, trade associations, etc.) used to issue ballot cards that would list their recommendations on how a member should vote. They didn’t provide white papers or analyses, just the card, thereby promoting lemming-like behavior. The lemmings, I mean voters, followed the lead of the tribal hierarchy on how to vote. Thus many voters were conditioned to rely upon such guidance and not do their own homework because they either were too lazy or too busy, figuring that they should trust those who knew better. After all, if I’m in a union and I trust the hierarchy to fight for my benefits, why wouldn’t I trust them to tell me how to vote?
Of course, the consequences are low information voters. The far right is a special case, because they are actually proud of their ignorance and wear it like a badge of honor. Regardless, this dumbing down of America, in an age of unprecedented access to information is inexcusable.
Angry misinformed uneducated old lower class whites