There are three kinds of voters in the US. Diehard democrats, Diehard Republicans, and independents. The diehards, often referred to as "the base", will vote for their party no matter what. No amount of campaigning, TV advertising, door-to-door campaigning, parades, rallies, whatever, is gonna change their minds or their votes. Only the independents can be wooed by a good candidate, or repelled by a bad one.
So, candidates that want to get elected, appeal to the independents. The base will vote for them no matter what they do.
Occasionally I hear TV newsies explain a candidates actions as intended to "secure the base". This is malarkey, the base is secure, it's the independents that a candidate needs to secure.
Right now, about 40% of the voters are diehard democrats, and 35% are diehard Republicans. The other 25% are the independents, who control the election utterly.
I have never seen a breakdown of the independents, by age, sex, education level, employment, marital status, or those other things that categorize voters. So it's hard for me to figure out just what any of the herd of Republican hopefuls can do to attract independent votes. If you don't know what your target looks like, it's hard to find it.
There is general agreement on some things. Everyone wants a stronger, growing economy, with more jobs and better wages. Nobody likes ISIS. Everyone is in favor of a college education.
There is no agreement on other things. What to do about immigration and illegal immigrants. How much economic activity can we allow the greenies to stifle with regulations? Are we willing to commit American troops to straighten out the middle east? How tough can we get with the Russians over Ukraine? Can we rationalize the US tax system? Citizens should not have to hire H&R Block to file their federal income tax. Can we straighten out the patent and copyright law which suppresses innovation and enriches patent trolls?
Where do independents stand on any of these issues? Does anyone have a clue?
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