You're right, the 20% figure is not in the survey/analysis itself, but rather in this piece written by Johnathan Chait for _The New Republic_ that linked to the survey. (http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-plank/who-you-calling-deranged)
The 20% figure imbedded itself so firmly in my head I thought it was the Democracy Corps that said it.
Hmm. In fact, while the Democracy Corps didn't put it quite that way, they did say this:
The conservative Republican base represents almost one-in-five voters in the electorate, and nearly two out of every three self-identified Republicans.
in the fourth paragraph.
So apparently they're not 40% of Republicans but more like 60%, maybe largely because, as you point out, more moderate people have left the Republican Party.
I don't know how the study helps create grounds for a dialog--except that it probably helps to know where the other side is starting from.
In this case I don't know that dialog is even possible--what is there to say to someone who believes that the only reason you don't hate Obama is that you are ignorant? What could you possibly say to someone like that to persuade them they're mistaken when they already believe they know better than you?
The ones who thought that they were better informed than the rest of us reminded me forcibly of an evangelical fundamentalist I knew who thought I (yo, molecular biologist here) only believed in evolution because I didn't know as much about it as he (computer programmer) did. I wasted two years trying to reason with that guy and got absolutely nowhere. It gave me a new (understanding? appreciation? recognition?) of people like that--people who just ignore what you say and repeat the same ...wrong assertion. Recently I came across a study that said people in the bottom 10% of a skill or knowledge often think they are above average--I thought immediately of him.
As for ideas like Obama was born in some other country--what is there in that to take seriously? His birth in Hawaii is a matter of public record and people getting all paranoid about the fibers in his birth certificate or the fact that it didn't make the papers --good grief! What does it even matter? Given that his Mom was American, he could have been born in Timbuktu or Antarctica or on the moon and he still would have had American citizenship.
When an idea is crazy, and you're dealing with someone who assumes you're the enemy if you don't believe it, what is the right reaction?
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Date: 2009-10-20 11:40 pm (UTC)The 20% figure imbedded itself so firmly in my head I thought it was the Democracy Corps that said it.
Hmm. In fact, while the Democracy Corps didn't put it quite that way, they did say this:
in the fourth paragraph.
So apparently they're not 40% of Republicans but more like 60%, maybe largely because, as you point out, more moderate people have left the Republican Party.
I don't know how the study helps create grounds for a dialog--except that it probably helps to know where the other side is starting from.
In this case I don't know that dialog is even possible--what is there to say to someone who believes that the only reason you don't hate Obama is that you are ignorant? What could you possibly say to someone like that to persuade them they're mistaken when they already believe they know better than you?
The ones who thought that they were better informed than the rest of us reminded me forcibly of an evangelical fundamentalist I knew who thought I (yo, molecular biologist here) only believed in evolution because I didn't know as much about it as he (computer programmer) did. I wasted two years trying to reason with that guy and got absolutely nowhere. It gave me a new (understanding? appreciation? recognition?) of people like that--people who just ignore what you say and repeat the same ...wrong assertion. Recently I came across a study that said people in the bottom 10% of a skill or knowledge often think they are above average--I thought immediately of him.
As for ideas like Obama was born in some other country--what is there in that to take seriously? His birth in Hawaii is a matter of public record and people getting all paranoid about the fibers in his birth certificate or the fact that it didn't make the papers --good grief! What does it even matter? Given that his Mom was American, he could have been born in Timbuktu or Antarctica or on the moon and he still would have had American citizenship.
When an idea is crazy, and you're dealing with someone who assumes you're the enemy if you don't believe it, what is the right reaction?