Pic Of The Moment: Well There's Your Problem

[EarlG]

Study: Lawmakers Assume Voters Are Way More Conservative Than They Are

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[F4lconF16]

1. Um.

Lawmakers include Democrats, too.

[Bill USA]

17. study shows Liberals & Conservatives think voters are more conservative than they are. Conservatives

.. error in estimating leanings of voters by much wider margin than Liberals.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026705125

On three issues — universal healthcare, same-sex marriage, and welfare — lawmakers' assumptions about what their constituents believed were "15-20 percent more conservative, on average," than the actual base of public support for such issues.

The typical conservative legislator overestimates his or her district’s conservatism by a whopping[font size="+1"] 20 percentage points[/font]. Indeed, he or she believes the district is even more conservative than the most right-leaning district in the entire country.

Liberals also think their constituents’ views are more conservative than they really are, but are typically only off by about [font size="+1"] five percentage points[/font].

Most conservative legislators believe their positions on same-sex marriage and health care command majority support in their districts – but only two-fifths are correct. In contrast, liberal legislators usually share views with constituents, but one in five does not know it.

[F4lconF16]

18. Yes.

Doesn't negate my point. It's particularly relevant given the constant calls by establishment Democrats to move rightwards to accomodate voters.

[SoapBox]

2. Don't they have only one constituent...

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!

[bulloney]

5. When they're in their home districts, the congresscritters from my part of the state

only attend events sponsored by RW organizations like the Chamber, Knights of Columbus, Farm Bureau, or whatever. They basically function in a RW echo chamber and think everybody resoundingly has a RW perspective on everything.

[Enthusiast]

21. +1!

[Human101948]

3. I have encountered this with regular people who ID me as Republican...

because I am a WASP. They assume that I share their racist views and their belief in all the disproven economic theories because of what I look like. They are so convinced that their loony beliefs are shared by everyone who looks like them.

[Johonny]

8. +1

[byronius]

10. I get that all the time.

And I love the look on their faces when they find out I'm a tree-hugging Leveler.

[tclambert]

14. Human101946? Taken. Darn. Human101947? Taken. Darn.

Human101948? Available! Yay!

You must have incredible patience.

[unblock]

4. but the right-wing position get more of the dollar-weighted votes....

[MADem]

6. Now what WE need to do is get the centrist to liberal people OUT TO THE POLLS on election day!

With GOTV we can win these races. Never go alone to the polls--fill your car! Fill it several times, if you have the time! Every vote counts!

[yurbud]

7. unfortunately, a lot of Democrats assume this too

there was majority support for the Public Option in the states of some legislators who opposed it.

[Wounded Bear]

9. This is Republican politics in a nutshell...

Last edited Thu May 21, 2015, 05:15 PM - Edit history (1)

If only 35% of the population vote, they only need 20% support to win office.

Obvously they pretty much have the wealthy support to afford their bullshit campaign advertising blitzes.

[Plucketeer]

11. Hell - are GOP Congressdolt goes out of his WAY

to hear from the common-folk constituents of his district. Even when it's time for re-election, he only hears from the monied sorts here. I can GUARANTEE you that he cares not one whit about representing my views!

[Beacool]

12. If these cretins don't represent the needs of their own constituents,

then why do the idiots keep voting them in?

[underpants]

13. Fox News / talk radio

All the politician has to do is use the right familiar moith words and the voters are like moths to a flame.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

15. I don't think their constituents

understand what is needed to achieve their wants either.

[phantom power]

16. A political party dedicated to the meme "govt is the always the problem" - what could go wrong?

[zentrum]

19. Then why do they keep voting

…for Reps and putting them in charge of the two Houses of Congress?

This research, if well done, underscores for me how really dreadful Dem messaging, framing and sense of politics must be. Why are we so often on the ropes—or losing elections and the issues they stand for? Well, I know why. But I do question the conclusions of this research.

[polynomial]

20. The error formula is mean

It is with a very hearty laugh and chuckle to read this article. The typical local politicians are off in their estimates by twenty percent seems very weird and too low. This error must be more like two hundred percent off in estimates.

If the focus is the one percent Conservative Republican that truly, truly are conservative, everything is so secret, or fraudulent, rigged, or misinterpreted, that likely cannot be determined.

We all know they want to swindle as much tax money away to build personal fortunes, all the while getting a better health care plan and the better pension plan, plus always giving themselves a raise, yet complain about the ordinary electorate would screw up the economy if they got the same.

The so called error formula should be introduced early into the K12 system it’s not working good now as it is in the education system, especially new potential electorates, and the candidates possibly have no clue about this mathematical reasoning.

It’s funny to even think about a behavior study with the demographic population having no skill in the exponentiation formula essentially getting pin-balled by the United Health Care Company, or what is contemporary behavior management, via media commercials. Whatever the population see on television commercials is what many do in life, which is worse than an error function. So we become pin ball wizards...