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Are you saying most people would answer Yes to "Are politicians trustworthy?" because then I clearly live in a completely different bubble than you do and have

by Dah00n 5y ago

Are you saying most people would answer Yes to "Are politicians trustworthy?" because then I clearly live in a completely different bubble than you do and have a very different interpretation of TV speaking heads talking about the issue. In my bubble at least 90% would say that US politicians are not trustworthy (no idea about UK). Not much different if you ask about Trump or Biden either.

BobbyJo 5y ago
I kind of see it both ways. 90% of people would call all politicians liars, but every person in that 90% has their pet politician that can do no wrong.
- Dah00n 5y ago
  I'm guessing a "pet politician" is a very American Thing -though I have nothing to base it on but my own opinion- since US politics are very much based on specific persons while I'm used to people looking at politics as a big group of people they vote for out of many parties. There are currently 15 parties to vote for here in Denmark, with a government on average being based on 2-3 of them. A single person rarely get more votes than 1% in our elections because most vote for the party, not the person.
  - BobbyJo 5y ago
    I'm speaking specifically about individuals people vote for among the hoard in any given party or set of parties. For instance, my grandfather who thinks all politicians are crooks, believes almost everything Trump says, and my girlfriend who likewise thinks all politicians are liars, takes everything AOC says as gospel. Both disagree with a lot of what the respective parties do, or want.
saalweachter 5y ago
Eh, your view of other people's cynicism is too absolute. People distrust politicians ... except. Except for their favorite politician, except for their party, except for the ones they voted for, except... You see this with Congress writ large. People hate Congress, its approval ratings are through the floor. But they like their own Congresspeople. Sure, gerrymandering, safe districts, etc, but by and large people are much happier with their own Representatives than everyone else's.
- Dah00n 5y ago
  >Except for their favorite politician, except for their party, except for the ones they voted for, except... As I wrote in another reply I believe this to be A Very American Thing. At least I have never heard of anyone here (in Denmark) seeing themselves as represented by a person. It is more of a party thing. I'm sure I live in a bubble (don't we all) so my experience might not match any official numbers but in my experience people seem to just change to another party at the next election if they feel the representation does not match their expectation. This likely makes it easier not to get caught up in having to defend a specific person that "can do no wrong". But again, I have not looked it up and it is all based on my own experience and intuition. I do know that election day sees a much higher turnout here (~%85) than in the US (>65%?) though, but is it related to distrusting politicians? Who knows.
  - pessimizer 5y ago
    > At least I have never heard of anyone here (in Denmark) seeing themselves as represented by a person. It is more of a party thing. This might be a parliamentary democracy thing. In the US, everything is about borders and leaders. You're happy with corrupt politicians because corrupt politicians are connected politicians, and they might bring benefits to your state/district.
zdragnar 5y ago
Individual congressmen and women tend to have high favorability ratings in the locality that voted for them, despite congress overall consistently having practically nonexistant support, and political parties not faring significantly better. In short, every politician is trustworthy to the people who voted for them, but not the rest- kindof an inverse of the effect, really.
ar_lan 5y ago
I'm fairly confident you cannot get to the higher levels of politics without skeletons in your closet.

by Dah00n 5y ago

BobbyJo 5y ago

I kind of see it both ways. 90% of people would call all politicians liars, but every person in that 90% has their pet politician that can do no wrong.

Dah00n 5y ago
I'm guessing a "pet politician" is a very American Thing -though I have nothing to base it on but my own opinion- since US politics are very much based on specific persons while I'm used to people looking at politics as a big group of people they vote for out of many parties. There are currently 15 parties to vote for here in Denmark, with a government on average being based on 2-3 of them. A single person rarely get more votes than 1% in our elections because most vote for the party, not the person.
- BobbyJo 5y ago
  I'm speaking specifically about individuals people vote for among the hoard in any given party or set of parties. For instance, my grandfather who thinks all politicians are crooks, believes almost everything Trump says, and my girlfriend who likewise thinks all politicians are liars, takes everything AOC says as gospel. Both disagree with a lot of what the respective parties do, or want.

saalweachter 5y ago

Eh, your view of other people's cynicism is too absolute. People distrust politicians ... except. Except for their favorite politician, except for their party, except for the ones they voted for, except... You see this with Congress writ large. People hate Congress, its approval ratings are through the floor. But they like their own Congresspeople. Sure, gerrymandering, safe districts, etc, but by and large people are much happier with their own Representatives than everyone else's.

Dah00n 5y ago
>Except for their favorite politician, except for their party, except for the ones they voted for, except... As I wrote in another reply I believe this to be A Very American Thing. At least I have never heard of anyone here (in Denmark) seeing themselves as represented by a person. It is more of a party thing. I'm sure I live in a bubble (don't we all) so my experience might not match any official numbers but in my experience people seem to just change to another party at the next election if they feel the representation does not match their expectation. This likely makes it easier not to get caught up in having to defend a specific person that "can do no wrong". But again, I have not looked it up and it is all based on my own experience and intuition. I do know that election day sees a much higher turnout here (~%85) than in the US (>65%?) though, but is it related to distrusting politicians? Who knows.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  > At least I have never heard of anyone here (in Denmark) seeing themselves as represented by a person. It is more of a party thing. This might be a parliamentary democracy thing. In the US, everything is about borders and leaders. You're happy with corrupt politicians because corrupt politicians are connected politicians, and they might bring benefits to your state/district.

zdragnar 5y ago

Individual congressmen and women tend to have high favorability ratings in the locality that voted for them, despite congress overall consistently having practically nonexistant support, and political parties not faring significantly better. In short, every politician is trustworthy to the people who voted for them, but not the rest- kindof an inverse of the effect, really.

ar_lan 5y ago

I'm fairly confident you cannot get to the higher levels of politics without skeletons in your closet.