Passionate Voting Blocs is the Secret to Winning Elections
Public Choice | Behavioral Economics
The biggest misconception about voting and election candidates is that they try to cater to the masses. You would think if you cater toward the majority you win most of the votes and thus win the election. But this is not what happens. In fact, the opposite happens. Candidates tend to cater their beliefs toward minority groups. More specifically passionate voting blocs (PVB).
Passionate Voting Blocs
What is a passionate voting bloc? To be a PVB three things must be true.
- You care about something very… well… passionately
- Convinced the only way to fix or improve what you are passionate about is through voting
- Must be a group with a distinct characteristic, typically a small group (race, age, culture, club, sport), in which they bond over
The reason politicians care about passionate voting blocs is that they only care (mainly) about one thing and that is their cause. It is very easy to win those votes because these voters don’t care about your other stances. As long as the candidate has the one stance that supports what you are passionate about, you earned their vote. This is partly the reason some candidates have contradicting views. It is to please two different PVBs who don’t care about anything else.
What happens when candidates base their platform on PVBs? We end up with elected candidates whose views are either disliked or indifferent, by the majority. That’s another big point about the reason they cater to PVBs, since they support a minority idea/policy, the majority of people are indifferent about the stance. They could care less. It is only upside for the candidate to cater to the minority PVBs.
Most people only care about things that affect them. That is directly or indirectly through family, friends, or area of residence. So a policy that doesn’t affect you, your family, your friends, or where you live more than likely won’t affect your voting behavior. These passionate voting blocs change candidates’ plans for getting elected. They don’t ask ‘how do I win over a majority of the people?’ Instead, they ask ‘how do I win over as many passionate voting blocs?’ Instead of ‘how can I get the majority of people to support my views?’ they focus on ‘how can my views deter the least amount of people?’
Now it is important to note that this is a bipartisan action. Both Democrats and Republicans do this.
Democrats
LGBTQ+
Democrats are known for supporting ‘LBGTQ+ rights’. They match the PVB description perfectly. Is the LGBTQ+ group Passionate? Not even a question, they have their own month and a parade. Is voting the solution to what they are passionate about? Yes, according to Democrats their rights are constantly under threat but if vote Democrat they will protect those rights. Essentially voting is imperative to protect what you are passionate about.
Are they a small group that bonds over a common characteristic? No question, according to UCLA School of Law Williams Institute 3.5% of adults in the US identify* as LGB and .3% identify as Transgender. They are a small group that is passionate about ‘protecting their rights’. A majority of people are indifferent about their policies as long as it doesn’t affect them.
Minority Races
Democrats also famously support minority races. Well, only some minority races. They support ‘People of Color’ as they like to say. Are they a passionate group? Very much so, the summer of love, with protests and riots in 2020 definitely showed that. Regardless of what you think happened that summer, you don’t have people lining the streets if they are not passionate.
Is voting the solution to what they care about? Yes, the claim is that it is systematic oppression that is the problem. This is directly saying it is a problem with the law and the government. Well, the only answer to that is voting. Democrats have convinced them that personal life choices can’t fix your problems, only voting can. Are they a small group that bonds over a common characteristic? Democrats support Minority Races, literally a small group of people with race as the common denominator.
But the idea of PVBs shows why Democrats support minority races excluding Asian Americans. The Asian culture in America (and in Asia as well) is very independent-dominated. And are passionate about personal development. These are not characteristics you look for as a candidate to win over a PVB. Individuals over the group and believe in personal change over political change. It is easy to convince a group, but it is difficult to convince an individual. Asian Americans are not the correct target audience for politicians.
But Blacks in America? They are the perfect target audience and the perfect PVB. The culture focuses heavily on group identity, I mean there is ‘black culture’, ‘black twitter’, and ‘black-owned businesses’. No other race in America identifies as much or is as passionate about their race. That is why so much of the democratic platform is based on diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE). It grabs the attention of one of the largest and most passionate PVBs in the country.
Republicans
Guns
A huge staple to the Republican platform is their support for the Second Amendment and gun rights. Are gun owners passionate? People who own guns are very passionate about their guns, probably more passionate about their guns than anything. That’s why there are more guns in the US than people.
Is voting the solution? Yes, the claim from Republicans is that Democrats are trying to remove your right to own a gun and remove the Second Amendment. The only course of action to fix this is to vote Republican. Are they a minority group with a central characteristic? Yes, reported gun ownership in the United States is around 32%. Each with a love for the Second Amendment. This is a classic PVB of the Republican party. Passionate gun-carrying people who will vote for anyone who keeps their right to carry.
Christianity
Another big platform for the Republicans is supporting Christianity. Are religious people passionate? These people wake up early on a Sunday, dress up, and pray to a god in church. Yes, they are very passionate. Some go through their life using their religion as a guide on how to live. Or go house to house trying to convince others to join them in their religious endeavors. These are some of the most passionate people you’ll ever meet.
Is voting the solution for them? A common proposal from Republican candidates is to pass a law that promotes religion. Basically, combine church and state. To combine them would require votes for such ideas. Are they a small group with a common bond? That is almost exactly what a church group is. A small community that bonds together over god and religion. The number of people who believe in God in the US is decreasing. In the 50s and 60s, 98% believed in God, now it is less than 81%. This means the people who are staying religious are the most passionate ones. Which means an even stronger PVB.
Groupthink
Passionate Voting Blocs are a form of groupthink. It isn’t exactly the same since there is a reason they all support the same single view. Because they all have the same characteristic that they bond over. So this isn’t exactly a bad thing that everyone thinks the same on an issue in the same group. That’s what we would expect from people with similar interests. The problem is that we are single-issue voters.
Single-Issue Voters
A single-issue voter is exactly how it sounds. It is a voter who bases their decision of who to vote for based on a singular issue. They pick the issue they care the most about whether that’s abortion, border security, the economy, healthcare, etc. See which candidate supports their view. And vote for that person, with zero consideration for any other candidate or any other views.
But here’s the thing, that’s the rational choice to make. Why spend so much time researching every candidate, every view, doing a long-time horizon cost-benefit analysis for each, then vote based on the results? Too much of a hassle, I’ve got errands to run. Instead, just pick what you care most about and vote that way. The latter takes about 5 minutes out of your day. This is one of many reasons why Democracy isn’t as good as many think it to be, and also why the United States isn’t a Democracy but a Constitutional Republic. But that’s for another time.
Why People Care About Passionate Voting Blocs
Recently there has been a lot of chatter about the PVB issues surrounding LGBTQ+ rights or gun rights. I said earlier that a PVB view was supposed to be indifferent to the majority of people outside of the PVB. Well, in many cases it is. But once these views started affecting other people’s lives then others start to care. For example, when you start marching in lingerie down Fifth Avenue in the middle of the day people will start to care. Or if drag queens are brought into your children’s school. When a transgender dominates in a sport. When you hear about another school shooting. Or another police officer shoots and kills someone.
People don’t care who you have sex with. They don’t care if you want to dress like the opposite gender. Or if you have a handgun for home protection. Or that you have a rifle to go hunting with. It is when these things are brought to the public sphere and affect other people’s lives than just your own. Then people start to care.
In the end, the viewpoints politicians have is not because that is what they actually believe but instead it is what will get them the victory in the election. More than likely it will be views that cater to passionate voting blocs that have large upsides and very few downsides to their campaigns. Politicians are smart, they know how to play the game, they know how to get votes, and they know how to get elected because that’s their job and Passionate Voting Blocs is one way they do that.