Pandering To Your Base Is Bad For Elections

July 31, 2017 in Daily Bulletin

Sahil Chinoy wrote about political theory:

  • In a study of elections to America’s lower house of parliament, researchers found that candidates with ideologically extreme positions were less successful than moderates.
  • It was long thought that ideological extremists are effective because they energize the base and increase voter turnout for the candidate.
  • However they also alarm the opposing party so much that their turnout goes up – effectively wiping out any gains.
  • The effect holds true for both Democrats and Republicans.
  • A lot of planning is going into America’s next set of Congressional elections in 2018 – the party that aims for moderation is most likely to be successful the authors conclude.

Read the study here.