Do Specifics Turn Off Voters?
by Bryan Schott
09/11/2012 | 378 views | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend | print
What appeals to voters more - big ideas or specifics?

Reason.com's David Harsanyi says columnists and reporters love statistics and specifics from candidates, but voters want to see passion from candidates instead. Why? Because they're too busy to obsess over every little detail.

It can also be noted that whereas elsewhere in society a plan is typically a starting point for negotiations or discussions, in politics your plan is going to be pored over by an army of opposition researchers so they can produce slick ads blasting your pitiful stupidity and crypto-radicalism. You can look forward to every bright idea you've ever hatched being transformed into a "gotcha" or another example of your rank hypocrisy.

Perceptions trump details. Sloganeering works. Do voters really want details? If they did, would our televisions be polluted with ads that have less to do with reality than the sitcoms that they interrupt?

Policy? That comes later. This is an election.
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May 17, 2013 | 11930 views | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend | print

Salt Lake Tribune

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