I am reminded of all the times in the last four years (really my entire adult life) where during policy discussions of any magnitude the ultimate “kill” for an

I am reminded of all the times in the last four years (really my entire adult life) where during policy discussions of any magnitude the ultimate “kill” for an idea is “but it’s only popular with $small_number of the vote” or “but poll after poll shows it as a losing position.” It’s used as a cudgel to push out things that would actually make people feel their government is doing things with impunity. Donald Trump’s approval rating rarely if ever dipped below ~43% (with the usual and huge error bars) and consequently republicans reported they couldn’t go against him ever because of the polls. “Spending political capital” is a concept where a ruling party takes unpopular actions/enacts unpopular law because it’ll only push their approvals toward their long run averages. I think this needs to be a serious topic of discussion. After this administration, “governing by polling firm” seems disingenuous at best and outright detrimental to all involved.