JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum AI taking over

FD,

You are steadfast in promoting this idea, and I would say by and large, you're right, to a degree, especially these days. But what about Independent voters, Independent politicians? Aren't the Independent voters choosing their candidate based on which one is more in line with their particular issues? And what about intangibles like personal appearance and media savvy? Some elections are swung based on how well a candidate uses media. Happened with JFK, apparently also with Trump winning, using Facebook to his advantage.

And so it would seem to follow that there must be many voters who are at least occasionally a little "independent" minded though are registered D or R? Or is your contention STILL that NO registered R or D is EVER independent minded in any election? That's like what........every voter in the USA to zero?

That would be a score of something like:

Always vote along party lines: 175,000,000 people
Those who SOMETIMES vote for a candidate outside their registered party affiliate who embodies specific beliefs and particular policies that matter more (to the voter) than their own party's candidate's beliefs/policies: 0

If you find you have a "theory" and no matter what information pushes against it you find a way to "make it work" so that your theory remains untainted in your mind, perhaps take a step back and try to understand "confirmation bias" and how our minds can trick us into ignoring facts or at least bending them to make them fit our theory:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

If you find your mind is immedietely trying to make "Independent minded voters" fit your idea, you may have a particular shade of confirmation bias. Nothing to be ashamed of. We all do on something or other.

I think if you just qualify your usual blanket statement a bit, it can withstand more scrutiny.

Mike