The Inverted Beer Test

[nsd]

Last edited Thu Jan 2, 2020, 03:24 PM - Edit history (2)

The_Atlantic_by_Yascha_Mounck


This way of analyzing candidates and their supposed likability is now routine. But what if the old beer line gets the truth exactly backwards?

Maybe it’s not that voters prefer the candidate they would rather have a beer with; maybe they prefer the candidate who would rather have a beer with them.

…

A candidate’s attitudes toward “people like me” thus become a powerful heuristic. If a candidate generally likes people like me, then it seems plausible that he will look out for my interests in a wide range of scenarios. If he dislikes people like me—if he would hate sharing a beer with me, and secretly thinks I’m trash—then he is far more likely to sell me out.

…

Biden insists on seeing the best in people. Whether or not his view is realistic, it clearly signals that he does not sit in judgment of either his would-be supporters or their loved ones. If there’s one thing that’s easy to believe about Biden, it is that he’d love to get a beer with you—and your dad, and your mother-in-law, and even your crazy uncle.

…

This is a lesson Democrats should urgently take to heart. According to a recent poll, most Americans fear that the Democratic Party doesn’t really want them. Asked whether they feel that “people like me are welcome in the Democratic Party,” only 44 percent of all voters and 38 percent of independents agreed.

[IronLionZion]

1. The other party's candidate doesn't even drink beer

and thinks everyone is crooked and spreading fake news

[nsd]

2. Biden doesn't drink either ... the "beer" thing is just a metaphor.

But the important point, I think, is that judgments like these affect voters' behavior. A candidate whom voters trust to look out for them has a huge advantage. And a reservoir of goodwill: it explains why Biden's support has been so stable, regardless of who "wins" debates.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. How could I tell if a given candidate would like to have a beer with me?

Or its metaphorical equivalent?

[nsd]

4. It's an imperfect criterion, no doubt ...

Voters often get it wrong. Hillary Clinton is a person that I think did -- and does -- care about a wide variety of people. But for mysterious and unfair reasons, that wasn't her public persona. People she would have worked hard for thought she was lumping them in with the "deplorables." That's a terrible shame -- and our country is still suffering for it -- but I think it's the truth.

Other times, the judgment is easy. I am sure Donald Trump views me (a brown person who is not rich) with contempt. And that's fine because the feeling is mutual.

But getting voters to understand who they are is a politician's job. Biden has done it well -- and I support him in no small measure because of it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Keep in mind that George W. Bush's supposed appeal

was that of "He'd have a beer with me". Which apparently was very appealing to redneck bigotted assholes, but as a woman, the thought of being in the same bar with him felt creepy.