Issues and Emotions
August 9, 2008
Have you ever voted with conviction for some candidates and voted for others with relative indifference? Have you ever voted for someone you’ve never heard of to fill a down-ticket office?
Have you ever carefully filled out the sample ballot at home to take it with you on election day? Have you ever stepped into the voting booth and just picked one? Have you ever voted a straight party ticket?
Of those five questions, only one or two suggest that issues are what drives the voter rather than emotion.
Filling out a sample ballot in advance of an election allows the opportunity to research the issues and whose positions are objectively more in line with your own. Voters who vote a straight-party ticket often do so because that party reflects their views on key issues that are important to them.
Party loyalty might be an emotional issue. Do we align ourselves with the Party that takes a stand on issues that resonate with the things we feel strongly about? Is handing out tire gauges an emotional appeal or an objective one?
Regardless of the strong feelings we each may have on either side of a given issue, there are some things that we all have in common.
We all want to have a better country, even when we’re happy with the way things are. We all want to feel safe inside our homes. We all want to feel safe outside our homes.
We all want to be able to feed and provide for our families. We all want to be healthy and able-bodied but, when we do get sick, we want our health care providers to be able to focus only on helping us get well.
We all want the next generation to be able to live at least as good a life as we do but, preferably, we’d like them to be able to live happier lives in a better world.
Campaign ads often frame issues in an emotional context. Much research goes into creating those ads, so it’s probably safe to assume that emotion plays a large role in how voters make their choices in the voting booth.
While it is natural to make our choices out of emotion, the ability to reason is what has allowed humankind to triumph over the harsh and often ruthless forces of nature. The ability to reason requires information and no one has ALL the information. That is why it is important to not only listen, but to hear and consider points of view that differ from our own.
Is that even possible? Hard as I try, I’m just not sure.
Entry Filed under: Voting. .
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1. Karoli | August 10, 2008 at 6:17 am
Emotions are going to inevitably play into decisions — they play into all sorts of decisions, from what church one joins to who one marries or is willing to spend their life with to which candidate hits them in the gut as a leader.
This is why the “arrogant” frame that the right is desperately trying to shove Obama into doesn’t work — after 8 years of misery under the leadership of the guy you want to have a beer with people are ready emotionally for a leader that carries himself with authority and conveys a quiet confidence. That appeals to the gut, too.
The key is to mix the gut with the intellect, and really understand what the issues are and why your gut says THAT guy can do the job.
2. ursulas | August 10, 2008 at 7:12 am
Interesting to think about …emotions in the voting booth.
I am working the polls on Tuesday in my county. It will be interesting to watch all the voters coming in all day …
3. Peter Santilli | August 11, 2008 at 12:59 am
it’s obvious that I’m very emotionally caught up in the crimes of politics. I’m not a politician, but I am very passionate about the victims of politics.
Unfortunately, not everyone wants what is best for us. If they can convince us that their mission is selfless, then they advance their personal agenda.
One thing is for certain, I am passionate, like you. Together, we really can make a difference if we selflessly support and defend the common man/woman.
Warm Regards,
Peter T. Santilli
4. Web Pixie | August 11, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Please understand this one very important thing, Peter:
The thing I am passionate about is living in peace.
Perhaps because I am not a trained writer, it may not be obvious that one of my main points is that no one has ALL the information.
People need to be able to hear what those who hold apparently opposing views are saying before meaningful solutions can be found. We, and those in Congress, need to hear from people who know what they’re talking about instead of hearing only from people who are paid to talk.
There are bad actors in any field of endeavor. They can thrive when people are silent and they can also thrive when they enlist enough people to shout down their opponents.
Nevertheless, I have to believe that the bad actors are in the minority and will eventually be exposed. In the meantime, the rest of us have to figure this all out and make it work. We need to learn more and share more of what we know.
Let the #dontgo crowd make all their noise on Caplitol Hill and let some of their opponents scream even louder. After awhile it’s just a lot of noise and people stop listening.
It’s not he who screams the loudest wins the day, at least I hope it isn’t. I suppose we’ll just have to wait until November to find out.
5. Web Pixie | August 11, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Emotion:
If anything is certain, most people will vote for the cadidate they feel most comfortable with.
6. francine hardaway | August 12, 2008 at 1:52 am
Every politician has a personal as well as a political agenda. And while they all say they want us to live in peace, the money to run their campaigns often comes from people whose agendas are best served by conflict. That’s why I’ve always been disillusioned to the political process.
7. Web Pixie | August 12, 2008 at 7:13 am
Peace is an elusive goal. It’s great that although you’ve always been disillusioned, you remain involved the way you do.