Comments on: An unlikely vehicle http://terrychay.com/blog/article/an-unlikely-vehicle.shtml You tell that other boy, not to touch the woodwork... Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:27:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7-hemorrhage hourly 1 By: tychay http://terrychay.com/blog/article/an-unlikely-vehicle.shtml#comment-7785 tychay Sun, 01 Oct 2006 21:48:32 +0000 http://terrychay.com/blog/article/an-unlikely-vehicle.shtml#comment-7785 The Median Voter Theorem only applies to single issue agendas where there are only two parties. There are also a couple other assumptions that go into it. The Democratic Party tries to play a variant of this on multiple issues known as "triangulation", this is what Al Sharpton was referring to. The assumption is Clinton won because he “went to the right” on a couple issues. This is what Gray Davis did with the death penalty (obviously afraid of being Willie Horton’d). Etc. This idea is in decline. Right now there is not an issue I can think of where the Democratic party isn’t closer to the median voter preference than the Republican one. (And lets face it, while Clinton exited as the most popular president in the modern era, he only won (twice) because Ross Perot ran both times.) The Republican Party actually learned from the parts of PolySci 12 that mattered: given multiple issues and foreknowledge of how people perceive them, you can reach any voting outcome you desire if you can control the agenda. The Republican strategy is to set the agenda through the media and a well-run messaging platform based on repetition. They believe that this message creates the “reality” that the others live in. This is where the infamous, “Reality-based community” quote comes from. This hold on the agenda setting is running away from them. It has long since spun out of control and they’ve long since relegated to doing it for it's own sake (maintenance). The Median Voter Theorem only applies to single issue agendas where there are only two parties. There are also a couple other assumptions that go into it.

The Democratic Party tries to play a variant of this on multiple issues known as “triangulation”, this is what Al Sharpton was referring to. The assumption is Clinton won because he “went to the right” on a couple issues. This is what Gray Davis did with the death penalty (obviously afraid of being Willie Horton’d). Etc.

This idea is in decline. Right now there is not an issue I can think of where the Democratic party isn’t closer to the median voter preference than the Republican one. (And lets face it, while Clinton exited as the most popular president in the modern era, he only won (twice) because Ross Perot ran both times.)

The Republican Party actually learned from the parts of PolySci 12 that mattered: given multiple issues and foreknowledge of how people perceive them, you can reach any voting outcome you desire if you can control the agenda. The Republican strategy is to set the agenda through the media and a well-run messaging platform based on repetition. They believe that this message creates the “reality” that the others live in. This is where the infamous, “Reality-based community” quote comes from.

This hold on the agenda setting is running away from them. It has long since spun out of control and they’ve long since relegated to doing it for it’s own sake (maintenance).

]]> By: Michael http://terrychay.com/blog/article/an-unlikely-vehicle.shtml#comment-7688 Michael Fri, 29 Sep 2006 21:32:40 +0000 http://terrychay.com/blog/article/an-unlikely-vehicle.shtml#comment-7688 Rethink their "whole centrist strategy", eh? Obviously the good reverand did not take PS12 and thus does not know about the Median Voter Theorem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_Voter_Theory . I think Lieberman knows this theorem, but just forgot that it must be applied to the people who can actually vote for him. Rethink their “whole centrist strategy”, eh? Obviously the good reverand did not take PS12 and thus does not know about the Median Voter Theorem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_Voter_Theory . I think Lieberman knows this theorem, but just forgot that it must be applied to the people who can actually vote for him.

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