The thing is that nobody actually wants a centrist party. There are 2 problems I see: 1. The leaders now pushing for a centrist party are the same people who g

The thing is that nobody actually wants a centrist party. There are 2 problems I see: 1. The leaders now pushing for a centrist party are the same people who got us to this point of polarization. Whether by actively exploiting it (Musk) or by failing to recognize people wanted change (centrist democrats, small government republicans etc). 2. Voting is a hassle, having to wait in line or go to the drop off box, or deal with paperwork with mail-in ballots. Plenty of people may have very strong opinions when they get riled up, they may hate or fear the opposition, or talk abou how much they care about civic duty, but that doesn't always translate into actual votes. The second problem is why highly motivated supporters are more important than walking on eggshells around people outside the base. Best example I can think of is Mamdani (and I think this applies to Trump's 2016 campaign too). He has a lot of poralizing ideas, and there are vanishingly few people who agree with everything he says. So you'd think maybe Cuomo would be the obvious victor, since people knew him and he wasn't really doing anything on the campaign trail, staying quiet with a cery curated message. But not only did Mamdani beat him, but more people voted for Mamdani in a 5 way primary than voted republican in the last general mayoral election.