3 Comments
Sep 9·edited Sep 9

This seems like a dangerous setup for the future. If liberals think the world is terrible and believe they can protest their way to positive change while conservatives think the world is doing much better, conservatives may be easily convinced that liberals are going to mess up the good things in life which will just increase the antagonism between the two groups.

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It would be interesting to overlay the effect of community in this analysis. I have to think that belonging to a group eases the pressure of "The world is ending." My hypothesis is that conservatives are more plugged in to faith and community groups, but it would be interesting to see the data and how that may have shifted over time.

Additionally, I wonder how the dynamics of dating among young people will change over time. Jean and others have talked a bit about this. Gen Z in general has not been dating that much. But there are real societal effects of that, and my hope is that somehow they will come to that realization in their own lives, even it is happens because they are just exhausted at being lonely and depressed.

If that happens, how will that shift the political landscape? I have seen more data that political ideology can be a deal breaker for relationships, particularly among women. But again, what is the pain threshold where these differences cease to be some important?

Maybe it is a variation on the old joke....Women's requirements for a man..

"He must be progressive"

Then after five years,

"OK, center-left will be fine"

Then after another five years,

"Center-right, but not MAGA"

etc.

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When you assert that the youth vote made the difference in 2016 and 2020, are you referring to the popular vote? Because what it actually took was 21,000 votes in 3 states that were swung the electoral college. And that really undermines your analysis.

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