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I don't know why this happens, but I would caution against assigning rationality to the voters. In Italy voters have been electing one party after the other wi

by Luker88 26d ago

I don't know why this happens, but I would caution against assigning rationality to the voters. In Italy voters have been electing one party after the other without consistency for the last several elections, which I would use as a point to general desperation and not feeling represented. I would like to know how many other countries have a similar attitude, like "let's try these ones, we have not voted them yet so maybe this time it's better"

juancn 26d ago
Voters are mostly emotional, not rational. The people that actually sway the elections vote by feel. You have to always remember that about half the population has an IQ under 100.
- threatofrain 26d ago
  That's by design, of course. Whether people got smarter or dumber we might still assign 100 to be the median.
  - Eddy_Viscosity2 26d ago
    That half of any sizeable population will always be dumber than the average of that population is thing that feels worrisome even though its just how statistics work.
- CamperBob2 26d ago
  You have to always remember that about half the population has an IQ under 100. And that the <100 half is much easier to herd.
- onecommentman 26d ago
  That sort of “smarter than thou” attitude resulted in the Republican victories in the Eisenhower/Stevenson US Presidential elections of 1952 and 1956. Maybe Nixon too, with the “silent majority”. Superficially smart, smug, supercilious and (ironic, eh) emotionally satisfying…but ultimately very foolish.
- red-iron-pine 25d ago
  IQ has nothing to do with it -- smart people are plenty tribal, too. anyone who has ever waded into battles in academia has seen this firsthand cuz that's what it's about: tribe as Scott Alexander once said: "the ideology is not the movement" (it's the tribe as much as anything) https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/04/the-ideology-is-not-the-movement/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/04/the-ideology-is-not-th...
  - EPWN3D 25d ago
    I don't think that's completely true. When times are good, intelligence and education probably come out in the wash. But when times are bad, and people are losing their livelihoods, intelligence has a lot to do with how blame is assigned. In other words, you're a lot more likely to get scammed the less intelligent and less educated you are. And that's what we got here in the US -- a conman ran a very successful con on people who just weren't all that smart or educated. And there were enough of those people to supplement the base tribalism and propel him to victory.
morkalork 25d ago
In Canada it is often said that governments are voted out, not in. Just continually firing them after being disappointed.

by Luker88 26d ago

juancn 26d ago

Voters are mostly emotional, not rational. The people that actually sway the elections vote by feel. You have to always remember that about half the population has an IQ under 100.

threatofrain 26d ago
That's by design, of course. Whether people got smarter or dumber we might still assign 100 to be the median.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 26d ago
  That half of any sizeable population will always be dumber than the average of that population is thing that feels worrisome even though its just how statistics work.
CamperBob2 26d ago
You have to always remember that about half the population has an IQ under 100. And that the <100 half is much easier to herd.
onecommentman 26d ago
That sort of “smarter than thou” attitude resulted in the Republican victories in the Eisenhower/Stevenson US Presidential elections of 1952 and 1956. Maybe Nixon too, with the “silent majority”. Superficially smart, smug, supercilious and (ironic, eh) emotionally satisfying…but ultimately very foolish.
red-iron-pine 25d ago
IQ has nothing to do with it -- smart people are plenty tribal, too. anyone who has ever waded into battles in academia has seen this firsthand cuz that's what it's about: tribe as Scott Alexander once said: "the ideology is not the movement" (it's the tribe as much as anything) https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/04/the-ideology-is-not-the-movement/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/04/the-ideology-is-not-th...
- EPWN3D 25d ago
  I don't think that's completely true. When times are good, intelligence and education probably come out in the wash. But when times are bad, and people are losing their livelihoods, intelligence has a lot to do with how blame is assigned. In other words, you're a lot more likely to get scammed the less intelligent and less educated you are. And that's what we got here in the US -- a conman ran a very successful con on people who just weren't all that smart or educated. And there were enough of those people to supplement the base tribalism and propel him to victory.

morkalork 25d ago

In Canada it is often said that governments are voted out, not in. Just continually firing them after being disappointed.