Are elections really about issues?

One of the more frustrating things about elections is that we all talk about "issues" as if they are the crucial point, yet so much of elections is based on charisma, image and style-over-substance. It's a strange disconnect I've noticed. It's almost as if electioneering is just a kabuki show, where the issues become the tropes and vehicles for the candidates to display their personal likeability or other characteristics.

Having spent a lot of time working in community development in extraordinarily challenging situations in various parts of the world, I've noted that this is almost universal human tendency. It's a kind of tribalism, where the right-or-wrong of a given issue becomes less important than who is espousing the view and how it's presented.

Thus, a member of the in-group (say, a member of one's own political party) is given every benefit of the doubt that they are right on the issues, as long as they identify with the in-group. And their style and presentation is palatable enough to not be entirely off-putting.

I think J.D. Hayworth, for example, trades heavily on this. Just about every moderate/centrist I've spoken to privately about him - Republicans, Independents and Democrats - recognize that he's something of a blowhard, shallower than most when it comes to actual understanding of governance, prone to destructive partisanship and demagoguery and is something of an embarrassment to our state. Yet, he is given a free pass by many people because of his slick image and is supported avidly by Republicans election after election because he has that "R" behind his name.

Then you have a man like Harry Mitchell, who is literally considered a hero (he had a statue erected in his honor by the people of Tempe for his public service), but who isn't all glossy and glib. Mitchell speaks from the heart, his sincerity is palpable and his competence at governance is so overwhelmingly evident that he immediately gives one a sense of confidence in the future. And, oh yes, he is right on the issues, too.

All this in mind, I ran across this interesting op-ed, with the following quote that I had to share with you:

If there's one thing Republicans have understood and Democrats haven't, it is that politics is not about issues. Politics is about identity. The candidates and parties that win are not those aligning their positions most precisely with a majority of the electorate. The winners are those who form a positive image in the public mind of who they are (and a negative image of who their opponents are). Issues are a vehicle to create that identity, one that combines with symbolism and narrative to shape what the public thinks about when they think about Democrats and Republicans.

Think about what happens in campaign after campaign. The Democrat comes before the public and says, ``If you read my 10-point policy plan, I'm sure you'll vote for me. Let's go over it point by point." The Republican then comes before the public, points to the Democrat, and says, ``That guy is a weak, elitist liberal who hates you and everything you stand for. I'm one of you and he's not." And guess who wins.

After it's all over, Democrats wonder why they lost, when a majority of the public favors nearly all the items on their agenda. Americans want a higher minimum wage, legal abortion, strong environmental protections, universal healthcare, and a tax policy that isn't tilted toward the wealthy, to name a few. But voters don't read policy papers, and they don't make decisions with a checklist of issues in their hands. That's why Republican campaigns operate on a different level: Whom do you identify with? Whom can you trust? Who is strong, and who is weak? These questions transcend issues, which is why Republicans -- who know they are at a disadvantage on the issues -- spend so much time talking about them.

Here's hoping that voters in November will see through Hayworth's slick veneer to the hollow shell beneath. And that Mitchell's integrity, sincerity, competence and, yes, more constructive position on the issues that agree with most of us in the mainstream will encourage voters to recognize him as the far better choice to represent them.