The US is ranked as a 'Flawed Democracy', what needs to change?

[Chrkeller]

the-pi-guy said:

Chrkeller said:

People don't know what they are voting for or people do know what they are voting for and the average person doesn't believe what we think they do.  I believe in the latter absolutely 100%.  But too each their own.  

I agree that polls can be questionable, because they're tricky to carry out. You have to ask a variety of people, and you have to ask the right question. Both things are important.

Personally I find most people don't understand what they're voting for.

Like "Defund the police". The vast majority of democrats did not want to eliminate police departments, most of them didn't even want to reduce funding. That did not stop many Republicans (voters and politicians alike) from believing they wanted to literally eliminate police departments.

There is absolutely a difference between reality and perception. That's the whole reason why propaganda, myths, marketing, conspiracy theories exist. 

People also vote for all kinds of different reasons.

Most of my in-laws vote based on exactly 1 policy. Doesn't matter if that politician wanted to gut healthcare, or wanted a single payer option, they vote based on that one policy.

Sometimes people vote based on the person.

A major problem with your hypothesis is that we barely ever vote for policies. We pretty much always vote for people, based on what they promise to do, and then we complain about it when don't. The fact that policies weren't implemented doesn't mean that people don't support those policies. 

Fair points.  I agree with a lot of it.  For me "defund the police" is just a bad tagline.  "Reorganisation of law enforcement" is a lot less polarising, granted it is not as catchy.  People also vote on a single policy, that is true as well. 

I used to think people didn't know what they were voting for, but two things changed my mind.  The first being I have heard that every 2 years for over 20 years straight...  at some point one has to start wondering/questioning.  The other change was when I moved to the south.  I don't know where you live nor do I want to make any assumptions, but moving from the north to the south was eye opening.  I can't drive more than 100 ft without seeing a "Let's Go Brandon" sign (either yard or sticker on a car).  When I lived in the north I thought the media was accurate in cascading what the average person wanted/believed.  Now that I live in the south, yeah I don't anymore. 

Either way, I can compromise to a middle ground.  Fair, many don't know what they are voting for.  But I do think the "conservative minority" is larger than presented in media.