What if American voters had an atlas-level understanding of electoral politics?

[ProgressiveModerate]

Would it affect who voted, how people voted, and how campaigns were run?

[GregTheGreat657]

Would it affect who voted, how people voted, and how campaigns were run?

I'd guess that candidates would be less populist, which in the Trump era, means less Republican.

[Progressive Pessimist]

If that were true then the Democratic Party would have college educated voters as the reliable voting bloc within their coalition that they should be, who would never even fathom voting GOP at any level down-ballot.

It still probably wouldn't shift too many states in the Democrats' direction though, but still would be a helpful improvement in giving them some sort of solid electoral floor in both national and certain statewide elections.

[Biden his time]

The thread does not say that the voters would have the same opinions as users of talkelections.org, but just if they had a similar understanding of electoral politics.

I think this would probably increase downballot voting, midterm voting, and would increase interest in non-presidential races.

[Progressive Pessimist]

The thread does not say that the voters would have the same opinions as users of talkelections.org, but just if they had a similar understanding of electoral politics.

I think this would probably increase downballot voting, midterm voting, and would increase interest in non-presidential races.

Right, and that sort of thing would mean that more voters would actually understand how and why something like a Supreme Court vacancy is so dire and important. If this was the case the recent ruling on abortion rights in Texas would likely benefit Democrats' electoral chances in 2022.

I think there is a link between a civic understanding of the country and a tendency to vote Democratic. It's possibly a partial explanation for why the college educated and up are increasingly rejecting a reality-challenged Republican Party.

[Vice President Christian Man]

GOP would be more populist and slightly less conservative.
Dems would move to the left on economics but stay put on social issues and would win continuous landslides since at least the '90s.

[darklordoftech]

[SInNYC]

I think we tend to overestimate our knowledge (as all groups do). I wasnt following this site back then, but other left of center political blogs dominated by people who considered themselves progressives were majority Edwards in the 2008 D primaries. Given that most Edwards supporters also claimed that "low information" voters would eventually come around to him, I think its more accurate to say that the bloggers were high gullibility voters, and probably infiltrated by campaigns. As far as actual IA voters it was conservative Ds that formed his base (which made sense given his record).

Now, for Rs, Trumps base does not correlate with anybody who has two functioning neurons, so maybe his style of populism would be less prominent.

[Schiff for Senate]

The thread does not say that the voters would have the same opinions as users of talkelections.org, but just if they had a similar understanding of electoral politics.

I think this would probably increase downballot voting, midterm voting, and would increase interest in non-presidential races.

Right, and that sort of thing would mean that more voters would actually understand how and why something like a Supreme Court vacancy is so dire and important. If this was the case the recent ruling on abortion rights in Texas would likely benefit Democrats' electoral chances in 2022.

I think there is a link between a civic understanding of the country and a tendency to vote Democratic. It's possibly a partial explanation for why the college educated and up are increasingly rejecting a reality-challenged Republican Party.

This is true, but not entirely. Non-college-educated voters are very polarized in voting patterns - white non-college-educated voters heavily supported Trump, while Hispanic and African-Ameican non-college-educated voters heavily backed Biden (although they did trend toward Trump). Overall, yes, I agree with you, since college-educated nonwhite voters are very Democratic, and white college-educated voters in places like GA06 are trending hard leftward.

[Xing]

The world would overwhelmingly endorse and agree with my agenda if only the filthy plebs were as unquestioningly enlightened, astute, and scholarly as I.

[DPKdebator]

The Democrats would be more left-wing on economic issues, and progressives would be a much larger chunk of the party. On social issues the party is pretty similar but is less pro-gun control. The Republicans would not be as laissez faire on economics, more protectionist, and divided on how to deal with healthcare. Trumpists would still be a majority of the party, but groups that are less favorable to Trump would have a larger say.

[SWE]

The nation would collapse fairly quickly

[Senator-elect Spark]

There would be a lot more idiocy and even more polarization. But at least Americans would have a better understanding of the issues.

[beaver2.0]

DW Perry would be president by now

[Minnesota Mike]

We think mighty highly of ourselves don't we.

If everyone had the same interest in politics as those on atlas the country would be even more dysfunctional and divided than it already is. The more invested people become in something the more irrational and unwilling to compromise they become. 

[Fetterman my beloved]

God help us all

[Alben Barkley]

We think mighty highly of ourselves don't we.

If everyone had the same interest in politics as those on atlas the country would be even more dysfunctional and divided than it already is. The more invested people become in something the more irrational and unwilling to compromise they become.  

There might be something to that considering that even though we saw record turnout in the last election and people are apparently getting more interested in politics than ever, that clearly isn't helping things.

However, I would separate "interested" from "informed" or "understanding." The problem we have lies in the fact that a hell of a lot of people THINK they know a lot about politics when really they know nothing about it, or are completely misinformed about it. Or just treat it as a spectator sport where they passionately root for their team (and now, even violently riot like European soccer fans when their team loses) but don't really understand the rules of the game or even what the goal is necessarily.

Say what you will about Atlas, but most people here (even many who I strongly disagree with on many things) are generally more informed about politics and have a deeper understanding of it than about 99% of the population. And I don't think it's a coincidence that it's mostly liberal/Democratic as a result... Even most of the Republicans here (with some notable exceptions) are more moderate and reasonable than the average Republican today. I think if all Americans were just as informed about politics and understood it just as well as most Atlas users, regardless of their level of interest in it or their ideological persuasion, politics probably would be a bit more sane. Which really says far more about the sad state of our politics and the American people than anything positive about Atlas.

[pbrower2a]

Highly polarized, but generally supportive of D politics. America would split about 57-43 D/R.

[Crumpets]

Adopting RCV and passing a Parliamentary amendment to the Constitution would be national issues of the same level as things like abortion. There'd be an ESPN-like channel with Steve Kornacki and Nate Silver hosting a First Take/Undisputed type show where they yell at each other about how to interpret precinct-level results of the latest state legislative special election. Pubs and restaurants would show international election results coverage like some show international soccer leagues now. Even more obscure members of Congress would have a much more celebrity-like image with paparazzi following Young Kim around to see where she buys her clothes and what she eats for dinner. In short, it'd be great.

[beesley]

It would be terrible. Politics would be treated as a game and less of something that affects people's lives.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Adopting RCV and passing a Parliamentary amendment to the Constitution would be national issues of the same level as things like abortion. There'd be an ESPN-like channel with Steve Kornacki and Nate Silver hosting a First Take/Undisputed type show where they yell at each other about how to interpret precinct-level results of the latest state legislative special election. Pubs and restaurants would show international election results coverage like some show international soccer leagues now. Even more obscure members of Congress would have a much more celebrity-like image with paparazzi following Young Kim around to see where she buys her clothes and what she eats for dinner. In short, it'd be great.

You win the thread.

[TWTown]

Constant overreactions on every single election res- Oh.

[Hatman 🍁]

It would be terrible. Politics would be treated as a game and less of something that affects people's lives.

why not both?

[Sir Mohamed]

Imagine voter tests that require you to have Atlas-level knowledge to even be allowed to vote. LOL.