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https://theconversation.com/american-voters-are-angry-that-is-a-good-thing-for-voter-turnout-bad-thing-for-democracy-193062>
"Regardless of whether they live in a red state or a blue state, identify as
Democrats or Republicans, or claim to be ideologically liberal or conservative,
Americans have one thing in common.
They are angry – especially about this year’s midterm elections.
Americans’ anger is driven by contemporary political events.
Republicans are enraged by troubling economic indicators and perceived spikes
in crime. Democrats, meanwhile, are angry about the U.S. Supreme Court’s
landmark decision in
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which
overturned abortion rights enshrined by
Roe v. Wade.
Politicians on both the left and the right are eager to capitalize on this
anger. In fact, Democratic and Republican politicians alike deliberately and
repeatedly seek to elicit voters’ anger. And, predictably, this anger leaves
voters in a sour mood.
Recent polls reflect this reality.
Whipped into an emotional frenzy, Americans are likely to believe that things
in the country have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track. So, too, do
Americans believe that their preferred political party loses more often than
not in legislative disputes.
Why, then, do politicians provoke anger if this emotional state leads to such
pessimism? As a scholar who studies American politics and the author of
“American Rage: How Anger Shapes Our Politics,” I believe the reason for this
is quite simple: Anger provides ample benefits to those politicians who are
able to use it most skillfully."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
