This blows my mind - a full 59% of respondents say that the Mueller investigation has turned up no evidence of criminal activity.
Times Free Press:
Nearly half of the respondents to the Navigator Research poll — 49 percent — said they had "heard a lot," while 32 percent had "heard some." Another 15 percent had heard "a little," and 3 percent hadn't heard.
"To the best of your knowledge, has the investigation uncovered any crimes?"
Stunningly, 59 percent said "no."
What? No crimes?
How about 17 indictments and five guilty pleas? And that's just what we knew of when the poll went into the field in mid-May.
Cheato's droning repetitions are sufficient to convince a majority of Americans of a blatant, provable falsehood. We are a nation of lobotomized sheep.
Don't expect very busy, underpaid hard-working people to be informed by our mainstream media. It is wrong to call them idiots. Ignorant yes, but not idiots. We have a propaganda controlled press that serves only the interests of its owners and those who hire it to serve them. It's always the same crowd at Fox and CNN and NBC etc. It is just money talking...money from Boeing, money from Exxon, money from entities that are concerned about controlling our knowledge. This is a real issue. The poll just showed that.
I used to believe that. Unfortunately, I've turned cynical. I think the situation is a bit more complex than that, but honestly, a sort of willful stupidity most certainly does factor in if you ask me. Some are kind of as you suggest. People that don't know that things could be any other way, with a certain hopelessness. They see no reason to pay attention to politics because even if they did vote and even if they voted in their best interest, they won't see much difference in their lives.
Identity politics is certainly part of it. There's been a lot of talk about identity politics on the left, but the right has had that concept locked up for a long time now. This is especially true in the south and rural areas. Being a Republican entails some very specific ideas...and nothing else. It's advanced to a point now where it's ALL about identity. Conservatives have no policy ideas, just zombie economics, and outdated social norms.
Present GOP policy is who can successfully insult or "trigger" liberals. That's it.
Finally, I think a large part of the problem is nuance. It's the nature of the message the two sides are trying to sell. It reminds me very much of a public evolution vs. creationism debate. Creationism is easy to understand. It has pithy one-liners you can toss on a bumper sticker. It evokes natural emotions in people like pride and prejudice. Understanding evolution required work, research, nuance and while it is the correct position, it's not easy to understand for a lot of people. It's the same with Conservative arguments vs Progressive ones.
Finally, there are the nutters. Sorry, but they're mostly on the right. The right circulates more fake news, and the right is home to more conspiracy theorists. The right has the religious nuts as well, and they are more gullible.
The Democrats really fucked up when they gave up on vast swaths of country while they had the White House. The only way Dems can win is if they get power for long enough, and then make highly visible, concrete differences in people's lives for the better that are undeniable.
attempts to derail.
