I like to joke that most people who pay attention to politics have a moment of radicalization, in which they realize that moderation and compromise, though they sound great in theory, fail the vast majority of the time. My moment of radicalization was the pandemic, when it became clear that the people to whom we had entrusted power were determined to abuse it as much as they possibly could.
But there remain plenty of people who want a more middle-of-the-road approach to the political and cultural battles of the day, even if that approach is more idealistic than it is realistic. A new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution found that 42% of respondents said they would prefer a candidate whose politics fell smack-dab in the middle of the two major parties. Even 40% of Democrats and 34% of Republicans said they would support such a candidate.
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A large number of respondents also said they were open to the idea of a third-party or independent candidate. Just 10% of respondents said they would prefer someone to the right of the Republican Party, and another 10% said they wanted someone to the left of the Democratic Party.
In many ways, this makes sense. Most people aren’t that politically convinced and tend to vote for the candidate that respects their way of life enough to leave it alone. That’s why there remains a lot of public support for accessible but limited abortions and a lot of opposition to the idea that children should be allowed to undergo drastic social and medical sex-change treatments. It’s also why voters care the most about topics such as inflation and crime — these are the issues that affect them the most directly.
But again, is it possible in the current political climate to toe the center line?
To be sure, both sides of the aisle like to point the finger at the other as the source of extremism. But only one party is living up to this allegation, causing half of its members to clarify in polls such as the Brookings Institution’s that they consider themselves “conservative” Democrats.
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The Left, with its toxic racialism, its radical beliefs about gender, and its commitment to silencing everyone who disagrees, has gone so off the charts in recent years that it’s making even the craziest Republicans sound sane. Remember: Only one party forcibly shut down businesses and churches and locked children out of school for well over a year. Only one party has harassed the same Christian baker for 10 years straight. Only one party thinks it’s hateful and bigoted to point out that men cannot get pregnant.
With ideas like these, moderation isn’t possible. A lot of people are starting to figure that out, and the result may very well be reflected in the midterm elections.
