Monday, June 13, 2022

Will pundits' conventional wisdom hold up this November?

 

The conventional wisdom is that in a mid-term election, the party in power -- the Democrats in 2022 -- will get their butts kicked, with the distinct possibility that the GOP will regain control of the House and Senate.

Top headlineNPR, 5/14/2022
Bottom headline:  New York Times email

The conservatives on the US Supreme Court unwittingly turn up the thermostat.

Regular readers of this newsletter may remember the thermostat theory of politics. It’s the idea, developed by the political scientist Christopher Wlezien, that public opinion often moves in the opposite direction as government policy. 
When policy begins changing, many people worry that the shift will be too radical, and their views move the other way — much as a thermostat regulates a house’s temperature. During Donald Trump’s presidency, public attitudes moved left on immigration. During Barack Obama’s presidency, attitudes moved right on gun control and taxes. 
Abortion policy now seems to be offering the latest example of the theory.  [emphasis added]

Not to mention guns.


Apparently, all this other shit doesn't matter.



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