Comments on: Abstract Preferences and Real Choices

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:16:00 +0000

I’m not entirely sure of the makeup of the “generic GOP” but honestly, there are a few pretty reasonable explanations here that could be contrary to “Americans don’t know what they want.” First, I know plenty of reasonable Republicans, and recall a time when Republican politicians at least had a relatively firm grasp on reality (to think, only 4 years later I’d think things like “Dick Cheny isn’t THAT evil”). I bet there are even a few decent Republican politicians working at local levels. The problem is, none of those people are running for president. If a Republican who wasn’t completely stupid, blatantly racist, criminally confused, or being accused of pretty awful crimes ran in 2012, that person would likely win. The second idea is, unfortunately, despite the fact that the Republican candidates are universally awful, a lot of people are in a very “not Obama” mood, both due to his shortcomings and the shortcomings that have been fabricated against him. It seems to me that this election will be a repeat of 2004’s “not Bush/not Kerry” election, simply because the Republican candidates are universally poor and because of disillusionment with the current president (and lingering hatred of him for being a black Nazi Commie Muslim who was born in Kenya, of course).

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:32:00 +0000

That’s fair; I do hope that you get that rash looked at. You could have Zuccotti Butt.

By: Sophia

Sophia — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:09:00 +0000

OKCupid covered this concept really well using interracial dating. http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/your-race-affects-whether-people-write-you-back/

By: AndrewS

AndrewS — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:40:00 +0000

Personally, I think you have to look into what people think “GOP” is. That is, their own views as to the politics of the GOP. Some are more conservative than others, and ultimately people are likely thinking “Romney is too [this] for me, and I’m a real centrist GOP person” or “Gingrich is too [that] for me…” etc.

“Generic GOP” likely makes people think about the GOP candidate that is most like them, rather than the GOP candidate that is an average mashup of either all the other candidates or of what all the members of the GOP believe in.

Same thing goes for Democrats or any other political party.

By: AndrewS

AndrewS — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:38:00 +0000

If I didn’t have the government to wipe my butt, it’d be dirty, and I’d get a rash, and you’d have to pay for it at the E.R.

By: Kat

Kat — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:11:00 +0000

Troll

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:36:00 +0000

Another example would be how a large majority of Americans say that they are for freedom and individual responsibility but keep voting for Nanny-state politicians to hold their hands and wipe their butts.

By: Yrro Simyarin

Yrro Simyarin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:26:00 +0000

Agreed. I’d rank Paul or Gary Johnson well ahead of Obama, but I’m not sure about Romney. I’m sure Romney or Perry’s supporters would do the same.

I think the general picture is that a lot of people are unhappy with Obama, but there’s a broader variety of the “why” and “so what should we do about it.”

By: Yrro Simyarin

Yrro Simyarin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:25:00 +0000

*Deleted – double post*

By: Riccardo

Riccardo — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:18:00 +0000

I’d even be tempted to go further and wonder if “Generic GOP” might not be unconsciously (or not) interpreted as “Ideal GOP”.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:11:00 +0000

I’m not sure why this is surprising. “Generic GOP” doesn’t mean “The average of all Republicans”, it means “Some Republican”. Of course that’ll do better than any individual Republican. You’d get the same results if you ranked Romney against the rest of the field and against “Generic GOP”.