There Are No Moderates -- Digby

[erronis]

https://digbysblog.net/2026/02/03/there-are-no-moderates/

I've been saying this for years. G. Elliott Morris does some sophisticated analysis of the voting population and proves, once and for all, that this idea that there is a huge number of people "in the middle" who are some who splitting the difference between the policies of the two parties which makes them "moderate" is nonsense. That group is just disengaged people who have no ideology at all:

The vast majority of the "moderates" are just completely non-ideological. Just over 80 percent of the respondents who scored between a -2 and 2 on either economic or social ideology had an ideological thinking score of 0 or 1. These "moderates" are not moderate, they're disengaged. They didn't express centrist views balancing left and right, or a preference for moderation on policy. They expressed no ideological views at all.

I took all 4,500 classified respondents in Steve's data and calculated the following composition of the electorate based on voters scores on the three variables ("ideological thinking," left-right economic policy, left-right social policy).

Disengaged (34%): Low ideology scores and no clear issue positions
Issue-focused but not ideological (25%): Mention economic or social concerns without ideological framing
Ideological right (19%): Clear conservative positioning
Ideological left (16%): Clear liberal positioning
Mixed/moderate (6%): True centrists or ideological misfits

The "center" of American politics isn't populated by careful centrists weighing "both sides" of the policy debate, or people who want the Democrats or Republicans to retreat from extremism. It's populated by people who want their daily lives to be easier and aren't really thinking about politics at all.

I have often quoted from this piece by Chris Hayes from over 20 years ago. It's as correct today as it was then and yet political strategists are just allergic to accepting this notion and planning accordingly. You can't win those people over with issue oriented campaigns because they don't understand politics enough (and don't care.) It certainly doesn't mean that "moderating" on issues is what they are looking for.

. . .

[Efilroft Sul]

1. Kick

I wonder what brooklynite would have said about this article.

[erronis]

4. Wow - I didn't realize that brooklynite was no longer on DU. I enjoyed some of the acerbity.

And I thought I saw a post just a few days ago.

I personally don't agree with this type of ex-communication which feels a bit like those old-time religions. I would rather have a nice flag raised by my name (or anyone else's) that gave a warning that there may be dragons ahead.

[Cirsium]

2. Wait..

A fortune has been spent wooing these moderates. We are told again and again that we need to compromise so as not to alienate them.

[Bread and Circuses]

3. Yep! That's what I've been saying . They're "The Know-Nothings"

[erronis]

5. And willingly so. While my relatives are liberal, many would rather not know what's happening.

Sounds like the "good old germans".