Relatability matters to a lot of people.  It's why George W. Bush, despite his failings, managed to beat John Kerry in the election.  Democrats didn't realize "Anybody but Bush!" meant they had to put up someone who's actually likable.  And John Kerry was not likable.  Or relatable.

 

Republicans of course forgot this, and chose Mitt Romney to run against Obama in his second term (at which point, he's got plenty of experience in the first place)

 

George W. Bush did fairly well in the under $50k salary range because he came across as a little simple.  (He learned this when he lost his first election in Texas because he was 'too smart')  

 

Both sides are responsible for it turning into a popularity contest.  With all their attack ads, rather than ads talking about their policies.  You see it at most levels of politics.  Every election you hear that "REPUBLICAN SENATOR DOESN'T SUPPORT WOMEN!  THEY ARE PRO-LIFE EVEN IN CASES OF RAPE AND INCEST!"  "DEMOCRATIC SENATOR AGREED WITH OBAMA 98% OF THE TIME!"    It's much the way scare-scammers work, by trying to use fear tactics to get you to vote one way or the other.


Then you have simpleton statements like "SENATOR IS FOR JOB GROWTH!"


Well [BAD WORD REMOVED].  Here I was thinking Senator didn't want jobs to grow.  Is there anybody that's going to say "I don't support Job Growth.  I think we should move jobs overseas!  Everybody should be fired"  Well... anybody other than Joe Biden maybe?


Both sides do nothing but pander to their base.  With the goal often being to get more voter turnout for your party than the other guy does.  It's a waste of money, and I tell everyone that when they call here asking for campaign donations.

 

Of course most of this is the result of a two party system.  Both sides can just pander to their base, because who else are you going to vote for?  Gary Johnson?  He doesn't stand a chance!  It doesn't matter what his policies are.  All that matters is that he can't win.  And if you vote for him, you'll just be letting the Democrat/Republican win.


It'd also help if we actually had more education on issues like politics.  Of course, I'm saying this in part because my wife teaches history, including a class on government and US/VA History.  But I've always believed that History is an important subject, and that if we don't learn from our past, we'll be doomed to repeat it.  The more our future generation knows about how the government works, the better off I think we'll be in the long run.


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