Are American Voters Actually Just Stupid?

[Fenton]

[h=1]"A New Poll Suggests the Answer May Be Yes"[/h]
Even realizing what they believe is incorrect polls say Trump voters would do the same thing again anyway. :shock:



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Obama was elected twice, so yes, there are a lot of stupid and uniformed voters in America. They continued to support him and his policies and legislation even after it was clear he was tied directly to the massive Democrat losses over the last 6 years.

Many Trump supporters voted for him based on his SCOTUS picks, and guess what, Gorsuch is now a sitting Supreme Court Justice

 

[Absentglare]

Sanders platform included the following:
1. "Free" education through college
2. Single payer healthcare
3. Requiring employers to pay 12 weeks "family and medical leave" as well as 2 weeks paid vacation and a week of sick days
4. Universal daycare
5. Financial assistance to first time homebuyers
6. Increasing subsidized housing
and much, much more.

He planned to pay for it by:
1. Taxing corporate overseas income
2. doing away with exclusions on estate tax
3. disallowing business deductions for dry well expenses and depletion
4. adding an additional 6.2% payroll tax
and more
https://berniesanders.com/issues/how-bernie-pays-for-his-proposals/

He put the cost of his plans at more than $1.5Trillion more per year. That would mean adding more than 30% to our current tax haul and I GUARANTEE that if that happened people with money and business that wanted to stay afloat would scamper like rats leaving a sinking ship. Once that happened the cost of all these pie in the sky programs would fall on everyone who voted for Sanders.

1. College educations pay for themselves, just ask Germany.
2. We already spend almost enough public money to provide universal healthcare. We could save the private sector trillions of dollars.
3. Sick leave tends to pay for itself, too. It turns out that spreading contagious diseases can interfere with productivity.
4. I haven't heard of this one...
5&6 we already have these things.

You have an excessively pessimistic outlook on the outcomes of the types of social policies that built the strongest economy in the world. I guess you're free to believe in superstition like right wing economic "theory".

 

[Fenton]

1. College educations pay for themselves, just ask Germany.
2. We already spend almost enough public money to provide universal healthcare. We could save the private sector trillions of dollars.
3. Sick leave tends to pay for itself, too. It turns out that spreading contagious diseases can interfere with productivity.
4. I haven't heard of this one...
5&6 we already have these things.

You have an excessively pessimistic outlook on the outcomes of the types of social policies that built the strongest economy in the world. I guess you're free to believe in superstition like right wing economic "theory".

You know single payer was PASSED in Vermont back in 2011 ?? Yup, the Governor signed it into law. Every state had the option of opting out of the ACA under one condition, they set there own Single payer system

Only one State was foolish enough to try it, Vermont. Do you know why their single payer planned failed ? Luther is right ! In order to pay for it, Vermont would have had to raise total taxes 150%. They would have to find another 1.5 Billion dollars in revenue annually, and the only way to do that is through tax increases.

The Vermont Governor chose not to implement it because even he knew it would destroy Vermonts economy, driving out capital investment and forcing companies and people to leave the State for greener pastures.
https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/12/21/6-reasons-why-vermonts-single-payer-health-plan-was-doomed-from-the-start/&refURL=https://www.google.com/&referrer=https://www.google.com/

 

[Removable Mind]

Who gave you the impression that I was out to prove my bona fides? I don't support conservative positions and I don't liberal positions. I support my positions. There are those of us who do that. Blind partisans might have a problem seeing it.

Risky, it's hell being a freethinker in a country that's been convinced that liberalism and conservatism ideologies are the only effective way to voice one's own interests in the voting booth. But being a freethinker comes with a price. Now you're labeled as nonconformists, un-american or some such bull****.

You're exactly right. "There are those of us who do that." Too bad more people don't.

In my opinion, individuals who don't take a freethinking approach to participate in their political roles as voters, it makes people politically/cognitively lazy because they allow their chosen political machines/mouthpieces to do the thinking for them.

Political ideologies remind me of religious tenets. Each ideology has some common concepts and meanings about those concepts, but they mostly have as many meanings as there are people who subscribe to them.

Don't know why so many people always correlate Republicans with only conservatism or Democrats with only liberalism.

 

[shrubnose]

Breitbart is the only acceptable news source in Bannon's America.

Breitbart isn't a news Source.Breitbart is the propaganda organ for the Alt-Right in America.

 

[eohrnberger]

I have to disagree. I don't think the left sees it yet. They haven't learned one damned lesson yet. What they have taken out of all of it is to get out the vote better and move the party farther to the left. They are still totally blind. I see many lefties on here who have given up reading the left biased mainstream media in favor of the Guardian, VOX, Salon, and other similar tabloids.

Agreed. The left doesn't see it yet. Still blinded by their bias as well as their hate and venom spewing on Trump, his admin, his wife and 10 year old kid for christ's sake, formerly off limits but no longer.

Given this present trajectory, without something else to change it, looks like it's going to be another blood bath of election results in 2018 for the Democrats. Unfortunate really, as checks and balances not only applies to the 3 branches of government, it also applies to political parties and their level of power and control.

 

[Risky Thicket]

Risky, it's hell being a freethinker in a country that's been convinced that liberalism and conservatism ideologies are the only effective way to voice one's own interests in the voting booth. But being a freethinker comes with a price. Now you're labeled as nonconformists, un-american or some such bull****.

You're exactly right. "There are those of us who do that." Too bad more people don't.

In my opinion, individuals who don't take a freethinking approach to participate in their political roles as voters, it makes people politically/cognitively lazy because they allow their chosen political machines/mouthpieces to do the thinking for them.

Political ideologies remind me of religious tenets. Each ideology has some common concepts and meanings about those concepts, but they mostly have as many meanings as there are people who subscribe to them.

Don't know why so many people always correlate Republicans with only conservatism or Democrats with only liberalism.

You nailed it, RM. Being a free thinker comes with a price. I suspect you and I both learned early in life that asking too many questions and refusing to accept what didn't make sense was sometimes not socially acceptable. My experience in that regard began with church. It was wrong to question God. Of course my dumbass wouldn't leave it alone. "How do I know God said it?" If God didn't say it why is it wrong to question? Then I was cautioned never to talk that way in public. My first lesson in group think.

Questioning group think risked social ostracism. You'd become labeled. Now I'm used to it.

Here we are as adults still battling group think and still being labeled. Partisans are often quick to label you if you don't agree. The concept of free thinking is the kind of freedom that scares the hell out of them... and so free thinkers must then be labeled and distrusted.

 

[Sweden]

Are American voters stupid? The sad fact is that half of them are below average intelligence, which goes a long way towards explaining why Ms Clinton got so many votes.

 

[eohrnberger]

You know single payer was PASSED in Vermont back in 2011 ?? Yup, the Governor signed it into law. Every state had the option of opting out of the ACA under one condition, they set there own Single payer system

Only one State was foolish enough to try it, Vermont. Do you know why their single payer planned failed ? Luther is right ! In order to pay for it, Vermont would have had to raise total taxes 150%. They would have to find another 1.5 Billion dollars in revenue annually, and the only way to do that is through tax increases.

The Vermont Governor chose not to implement it because even he knew it would destroy Vermonts economy, driving out capital investment and forcing companies and people to leave the State for greener pastures.
https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welco....google.com/&referrer=https://www.google.com/

As goes single payer in Vermont, so would single payer go in the nation. Thank goodness that we have the Laboratories of democracy, the states, to see if it is a viable public policy for the nation without conducting the experiment at the national level. In this case, apparently not.

 

[eohrnberger]

Are American voters stupid? The sad fact is that half of them are below average intelligence, which goes a long way towards explaining why Ms Clinton got so many votes.

I wince at calling voters, of any persuasion, stupid. Id' call them wrong, or that I disagree with them, but not the voter themselves stupid. They may hold what I would consider stupid positions, but that doesn't make the voter stupid.

Of course the saying goes, "The right thinks the left is wrong, while the left thinks the right is evil". I think this might be part of the problem with the increasingly excessive vitriol that's been injected into the political discourse over the last 2 decades.

 

[ludin]

Was with you until that last sentence. Obama spent many years trying to work with an openly hostile Republican Congress, and he was right to just give up on them in the end. Today's Republicans cannot govern with anyone who does not march in lockstep agreement with them.

Lol obama was anything I say I want if I can't get it cry about it and whine.
We spent 8 years listening to obama cry on how mean it was he couldn't get his way.

He didn't try and work with them at all.
Neither did harry Reid. It was a good thing they blocked as many bills as they did.

Things would have been worse if they hadn't.

 

[Phys251]

Lol obama was anything I say I want if I can't get it cry about it and whine.
We spent 8 years listening to obama cry on how mean it was he couldn't get his way.

In 100 days, Donald has done more whining and complaining than Obama did in eight years.

 

[Puigb]

I agree. FOX News, and their Tea Party promotion and creation, got Trump elected.

What's funny is Fox News used to hate Trump until he became the nominee. Then they had no choice but to start kissing his ass.

 

[Puigb]

Comments like this read as if Trump is in his third year. The fact is that he just wrapped up his third MONTH.

Feel free to write him off now. Lord only knows people did that the whole campaign.

Yes, and after three months, things aren't going so well, eh? Well actually, in Trump's mind, he had the greatest first 100 days in history.

 

[Puigb]

sure it does

the dems sent out two candidates, but one had already been crowned before the event even started....i wont count the green party, or the also rans

the pubs sent out 18? candidates....another bush, a couple of conservative nobodies, christie, and a couple of puppies were werent ready for the big stage....and the Donald

everything the establishment threw at him, he took, and threw it back harder

there really wasnt a serious challenger....the country was NEVER going to elect another Bush, even though that is what the elites and power base wanted

Ryan wasnt ready...his leadership as speaker should tell you that....who else was halfway serious?

so no one emerged OTHER than Trump....and he began to rally serious support

I never voted for him.....but if you look back at my posts 7-8 months before the election, i said to watch out for him

Charisma and personality count....and whether or not you and i like him, he can and does sway people

And he got them to vote for him...in the primaries, and then in the general

lol, whatever you have to tell yourself to justify the fact that so called "conservatives" voted for a liberal Reality T.V. star as their next president.

 

[Moderate Right]

Yes, and after three months, things aren't going so well, eh? Well actually, in Trump's mind, he had the greatest first 100 days in history.

What's not going well?

 

[Moderate Right]

lol, whatever you have to tell yourself to justify the fact that so called "conservatives" voted for a liberal Reality T.V. star as their next president.

Are you saying that conservatives own the country and decide who is going to be president? If so, you guys aren't going to see the light of day again.

 

[fmw]

In 100 days, Donald has done more whining and complaining than Obama did in eight years.

That is an opinion that doesn't meet the common sense test. It is just partisanship.

 

[fmw]

What's funny is Fox News used to hate Trump until he became the nominee. Then they had no choice but to start kissing his ass.

You act as though Fox News is monolithic. There were people who liked Trump and those who didn't. That is still the case.

 

[fmw]

What's not going well?

The fact that nobody has brought up impeachment charges yet.

 

[Lord of Planar]

[h=1]"A New Poll Suggests the Answer May Be Yes"[/h]
Even realizing what they believe is incorrect polls say Trump voters would do the same thing again anyway. :shock:



Source[/FONT][/COLOR]

I wouldn't say voters are stupid, but not willing to take the time to invest in the facts. They they are easily swayed by soundbites, hot button issues, etc.

 

[Captain America]

The far right are the stupidest people this country has ever seen and their unwavering support of Donald Trump through all of the slap-dash unprofessional mismanagement of the administration just reinforces that conclusion. I think that moderate voters who thought Trump might make a difference would think twice, but the Trump base, egged on by the likes of Sean Hannity would vote for Trump a hundred times just out of spite and ignorance.

Yeah. That pretty much hits the nail on the head.

But what can ya do? Stupid is as stupid does. In the land of the free and the home of the brave, a Trumpkin vote counts as much as an informed vote does and ya can't shoot 'em. Adapt and improvise. This too shall pass.

 

[Moderate Right]

The fact that nobody has brought up impeachment charges yet.

For what?

 

[Risky Thicket]

I wouldn't say voters are stupid, but not willing to take the time to invest in the facts. They they are easily swayed by soundbites, hot button issues, etc.

Let's split the difference and call it willful ignorance.

We often see it here on DP. Someone will emphatically state something as truth but when others ask for sources and validation the poster will not respond or will shuck and jive to avoid admitting that they don't actually have validation. People adopt positions without doing the grunt work. Worse yet, some people do not want to think objectively, even when they realize they may not have any facts to support their own position.

 

[Moderate Right]

Let's split the difference and call it willful ignorance.

We often see it here on DP. Someone will emphatically state something as truth but when others ask for sources and validation the poster will not respond or will shuck and jive to avoid admitting that they don't actually have validation. People adopt positions without doing the grunt work. Worse yet, some people do not want to think objectively, even when they realize they may not have any facts to support their own position.

I have to admit that many here on the left work overtime to find their cherry picked stats and then call them facts. I guess they have the time to do that because they don't work, collect benefits from the government, and have nothing better to do with their lives.