Why Voting Decisions Are So Tough

Listening to the Super Tuesday results this past week caused me to have an “aha!” type experience I want to share with you.

One of the commentators was projecting the results in one of the states. Using exit polling data, this commentators’ discussion was about demographics. Given a certain ethnocentric grouping, those over a certain age were voting for one candidate and those under that age were voting for another. In this other ethnocentric grouping, bla, bla, bla.

Here’s the insight that observation gives me and here’s what I think that means to you.

As a sales professional, I understand that I won’t be able to sell my product to everybody. The old sales mantra of, some will, some won’t, so what, someone’s waiting certainly applies. So all those statistics about who’s voting for who and why have some value for determining who finds your message as a candidate appealing and who does not.

What those statistics may not provide is a means for getting away from polarized politics. The presentation of the results in the format I described only serves to continue to divide us like little squares on a checkerboard. The presentation only accentuates our disagreements and does not provide consensus towards compelling overall goals that a majority can agree with.

Doubtless there are people whose approach to determining their voting choice is also reflective of paralysis of analysis. I’ll bet you know someone who has a spreadsheet matrix with a list of issues from top to bottom on the left and the candidates arrayed across the top. I offer my compliments to those with the gumption to complete the exercise. Given the demands of daily life few people have the time or discipline to do so.

Because of this, most people take one of two approaches to choose who to vote for. The first has several variations, but basically focuses on finding some affiliation with politics based on issues or personalities. This is dependent thinking, not independent thinking and leaves the practitioner vulnerable to manipulation and misinformation.

The second approach is to make a last minute voting decision based on some random factor with little relationship to the actual competency or potential of the candidate.

Instead, what I recommend is that voters learn to make their voting choices by focusing on principles and outcomes instead of issues. In this way, you as a voter can learn to make your own decisions through a substantive process of independent thinking.

How do you learn to vote this way? Take advantage of the resources found in this Ezine, our book, blog and web site. Encourage others to do the same. The more of us who can learn to do this, the more polarized politics will become a phenomenon of the past.

See you next week.

Regards,

Larry

What Does “Conservative Enough” Mean?

We note a lot of discussion based on supposed Republican dissatisfaction with John McCain. McCain is said to be not “conservative” enough. Here’s a fun question to ask the next time you hear this. Can you define what being a “conservative” means in 50 words or less without simply listing the issues you’re for or against? Listen to their answer and then ask them to compare that definition to several of their actual policies. I’ll bet you find some contrasts. This is, of course, a double edged sword and you can do the same thing with someone who calls themselves “liberal” or “progressive”. Once again, this is why I advocate that you get away from labels like these and instead define your political philosophy based on principles and outcomes. Let’s all get on the same sheet of music and see if we can’t find better harmony together.

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