Pundits often say that voters support the candidate they'd rather get a beer with.
The truth is the other way around:
The most important test is whether voters think that a candidate would like to get a beer with them.
My latest @TheAltantic.
[Thread]
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
The truth is the other way around:
The most important test is whether voters think that a candidate would like to get a beer with them.
My latest @TheAltantic.
[Thread]
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Many politicians fail this test:
* Gordon Brown dismissed a voter he treated cordially in person as "some kind of bigoted woman" as soon as she was out of sight.
* Martha Coakley asked critics if she should stand “outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?”
Both lost.
* Gordon Brown dismissed a voter he treated cordially in person as "some kind of bigoted woman" as soon as she was out of sight.
* Martha Coakley asked critics if she should stand “outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?”
Both lost.
The Pundits' Beer Test made voters seemed irrational:
You won't get invited to the White House for brewskis in any case. Why on earth do you care so much whether you'd have fun if you did?
You won't get invited to the White House for brewskis in any case. Why on earth do you care so much whether you'd have fun if you did?
But voters do have reason to care about the Real Beer Test:
They can't foresee all the decisions their reps must make after the election, and have limited means for holding them to account.
If a candidate dislikes people like me, it's plausible s/he'd be willing to sell me out.
They can't foresee all the decisions their reps must make after the election, and have limited means for holding them to account.
If a candidate dislikes people like me, it's plausible s/he'd be willing to sell me out.
A recent poll finds that only 44% of all voters and 38% of independents believe that “people like me are welcome in the Democratic Party.”
This should scare the bejeezus out of anybody hoping to beat Trump in 2020: If you feel that Dems look down on you, you won't vote for them.
This should scare the bejeezus out of anybody hoping to beat Trump in 2020: If you feel that Dems look down on you, you won't vote for them.
Kerry didn't lose to Bush because people didn’t want to have a beer with him. He lost because he didn't want to have a beer with them.
If Dems don’t change their ways, they may, in the fall, fail to stop an even more deeply flawed president from winning reelection.
[End.]
If Dems don’t change their ways, they may, in the fall, fail to stop an even more deeply flawed president from winning reelection.
[End.]
