Appealing To The “Center” Drives Away Voters

May 7th, 2011 by Dave Johnson

The PCCC and now the Pew poll show us that these “independent” voters are NOT some group that sits between the positions of the parties. They are not a block and they are not between. Democrats and especially their pollsters think of them as a block that is between, and this is why the do what they do.

Karl Rove believed that there were independents who were not registered Republican because the party was not far enough to the right for them, who would only turn out if the party gave them something to vote for. I think Karl Rove’s model is more accurate, that the independent voters are a number of groups, and very large numbers of them are MORE to the left or right than the parties, and don’t vote unless the parties appeal enough to them.

Rove decided this means the Republicans need to move ever more to the right, and this will cause those “independent” voters who had changed their affiliation out of disgust with the centrism of their party to now turn out and vote.

I think Rove nailed it. the PCCC had a poll a while back that showed this, and now see below. Dems have it exactly wrong, what they are doing turns off those independents who might have turned out to vote for them.

The way to grow your voting base is NOT to try to “appeal” to some group that is not left or right, but is “between” something called left and right. To get more voters — especially the “independent” ones who won’t identify with a party — is to take stands, be more committed to progressive positions, and to articulate them more clearly.

This post originally appeared at Speak Out California.

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Posted in Analysis, Elections, Politics | 3 comments

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  1. Phil Perspective:

    May 7th, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    I didn’t read the whole thing but I believe it boils down to, as always, Versailles trying to drag the country right in service of their corporate masters.

  2. Dameocrat:

    May 7th, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    I agree that many of us independents are not centrists, but I do not believe the dems when they claim this is the reason they do centrist politics. I think that is the excuse they make to progressive dems but in reality they are trying to appeal to donors. They are more ideological than they are willing to admit to as well. Obummers politics perfectly reflect Wall Street! Mild social liberals/socialism only for the rich/freemarket for the poor.

  3. lambert:

    May 9th, 2011 at 11:00 am

    See the ratchet effect. The Ds don’t act as they do because of lack of understanding; the Ds act as they do for institutional imperatives, and because they share a belief in the neo-liberal Washington Consensus with the Rs. Hence, both parties form a single system that is opposed to my values and interests, and therefore I work against them.

    I mean, c’mon. Where’s the “hippie” in this blog? If I want to read about Pew, I can head on over to The Obama 527 Formerly Known As Daily Kos!