3 ms·
> But still a lot of Republicans seem to believe US is not able to organize fair elections. This is not as true as you are being led to believe. The media in g
by ars 5y ago
> But still a lot of Republicans seem to believe US is not able to organize fair elections.
This is not as true as you are being led to believe. The media in general looks for extreme opinions to make news, so they'll find the rare person who believes this, and then write as if it's a majority belief.
I experienced this first hand - I watched a journalist interview tons of people, most had centrist opinions, then the finally found the person with the extreme opinion - and that was what aired that night (I specially made a point of watching).
The partisan divide is real, but what's not obvious is that it's being created by media who is desperate for attention, because that's how they get paid. They'll tell Democrats look at those horrible Republicans, and post stories of Republicans behaving badly, then the media on the other side will do it too (not as much - most media outlets are liberal leaning).
Democrats don't seem to realize they are being manipulated by stories featuring the worst that media can find, and they think that it's representative of people as a whole, so they'll start saying really nasty things - which is just more fodder for media to publish.
I wish they would make it illegal to post a minority opinion without clearly saying that it's a minority.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y agoIs a majority of a minority allowed under your scheme? After all, a substantial majority of Republicans continue to believe that the 2020 election was "stolen"; Republicans are a minority of Americans. Can the media in your wish-world report on this?
- ars 5y ago> After all, a substantial majority of Republicans continue to believe that the 2020 election was "stolen" And your basis for this "fact" is? The media? Do you actually talk to average Republicans, or only the ones who like media exposure? Out here in the real world only a minority of Republicans believe this, but it's a vocal minority, who love the media exposure. You are a victim of exactly what I'm advocating against. Moderate Republicans greatly outnumber the extreme ones, but the extreme ones are getting all the attention.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y agoSince I cannot talk to a large number of Republicans (or Democrats), I prefer to let opinion polls do that for me. Reuters/Ipsos would not appear to have a particular axe to grind on this issue, and as of May of 2021, they had the number at about 53% (they also document their methodology and questions etc.) A more recent poll by the Univ of Mass in Dec 2021 puts the number at 71%. If you're going to cast "all media" as untrustworthy, then you're doomed to only know the world through your own senses. Yes, there are concerns about the accuracy of polling, for a number of reasons that include partisan response to polling in general. But I'm not prepared to say something like "well, the Republicans I know ...", because there's no possible way for my personal experience of any group (Republicans or not) is sufficient for me to draw any conclusions. I would have thought that the combination of UMass and Ipsos was reasonably neutral enough that more or less anyone could agree on the claim "a majority of Republicans believe that Joe Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 presidential election". Apparently not ....
- mrguyorama 5y agoOver 170 Republican lawmakers voted to not certify the 2020 election. It's not an extreme position, it's approaching party gospel.