Why do some voters support both President-elect Donald Trump and progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?
It’s possible that they supported a candidate they thought would shake up the status quo. But these contradictory choices go beyond supporting a candidate. recent Civiqs poll on Daily Kos We find similar contradictions in voters’ policy views.
A survey conducted Dec. 7-10 found that some registered voters do not accept all of Trump’s campaign promises. Perhaps because they hope Trump won’t follow suit. And this is true even among Republicans.
For example, 94% of Republican voters say they trust Trump to deliver on his promises. Deport millions of undocumented immigrants.. However, a slightly smaller percentage of Republicans (82%) say he will pursue policies that: impose tariffs on imported goods In certain foreign countries. And an even smaller percentage, just 50% of Republicans, say they trust Trump. I am committed to repealing the Affordable Care Act.This is something he tried and failed to do in his first administration.
These results may reflect voters’ voting preferences. After all, most policies that are considered relevant to one of the two major political parties (such as mass deportations in the Republican plan and expanding health care coverage in the Democratic plan) enjoy a significant amount of bipartisan support.
no way gallop For example, a poll released Monday found that a majority of Americans believe it is the federal government’s responsibility to ensure that all Americans have access to health insurance coverage. Meanwhile, the Civiqs/Daily Kos poll and a separate Gallup poll also found majority support. right-wing immigration policy.
That said, many Americans have messy policy views that don’t align neatly with either major political party.
The 2024 Missouri election results were a good example of how this plays out. Voters there supported the constitutional amendment. protect abortion rights, raise the minimum wageAnd requires employers to provide: paid sick leaveWhile supporting the Republican Party (the party that generally opposes these policies)in statewide races.
Perhaps this is because both parties have fairly broad coalitions of voters. Let’s see Trump win A vote rate of less than 50% of the popular vote. In November. According to (not perfect) exit polls, Trump has expanded his appeal among: Latino and Black working-class voters yes junior. He also had good relationships with non-college-educated voters. These blocs may not share many of the same political ideologies, but their large constituencies mean that both tents are large enough to encompass voters with somewhat uncohesive views.
In an era of persistent discontent with both political parties, some Democratic policies have remained popular this year, while some candidates may not have.
Moreover, no one makes decisions alone. Many things influence voting choices, and this applies to everyone, not just undecided or marginal voters.
According to the Civiqs/Daily Kos survey, only 10% of voters ranked abortion as their “most important” issue when voting this year, compared with 39% who ranked it as their top issue (though not number one). Another 15% said it was an issue they ‘considered’ when voting.
Surprisingly, even the problem Greatly involved with grievance politics Today, Democrats in the Republican Party have broad support. The survey found that 37% of Democrats believe some type of election fraud affected the results of the 2024 election. This includes 24% of Democrats who say “large-scale” fraud occurred. (There is no evidence of election fraud.) Compare this to the 52% of Republicans who believe there was minimal fraud, despite their party affiliation. Gain control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate transmission.
What these details reveal is that in a two-party system, voters often have somewhat inconsistent views that they have to boil down to binary choices when they vote. Perhaps there could be an argument for having more than one political party, but until that happens, both Democrats and Republicans will have to tolerate all sorts of policy compromises and coalition building, while also tolerating many contradictions.
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