There’s an adage in politics that people view their own members of Congress more favorably than they view Congress overall. Data from a recent New York Times/Siena University poll suggests that distinction, known as Fenno’s paradox, may extend to political ideology.
According to the survey of voters in key battleground U.S. Senate races, 53 percent said the national Democratic Party was too far to the left, and 47 percent viewed the Republican Party as too far to the right. Yet when evaluating individual nominees, voters found local candidates far less extreme, with only 35 percent expressing a similar concern.
That gap suggests that the vitriol of national politics may not translate to the local level, even as voters express deep alarm over party polarization.
“It’s all about our side and their side; I don’t know how we can get to something we both can live with,” said Dean Blamer, 67, a retired police officer from Gahanna, Ohio.
Mr. Blamer, a lifelong Republican, said he was fed up with how, nationally, both parties have “drifted to the extremes.”
But when it comes to the Senate race in Ohio, he is torn between supporting Sherrod Brown, the Democrat, and Jon Husted, the Republican, each of whom he feels has stayed closer to the middle.
“They’re not as extreme as the parties,” Mr. Blamer said, in a sentiment echoed by voters in several states. “They’re a good fit for Ohio.”
Political scientists have attributed Fenno’s paradox, in part, to how news media coverage shapes perception, which could be in play with ideology as well. While cable news might discuss national parties in extreme terms, regional outlets’ coverage of local candidates can give voters more insight into their views.
Researchers also attribute this to incumbency, noting that members of Congress frequently deliver tangible results for their constituents.
The disconnect between current views on national parties and local candidates was especially prominent when voters considered Democratic nominees. In Iowa, 57 percent of voters said the national Democratic Party was too far to the left, but only 25 percent expressed a similar concern about Josh Turek, the state’s Democratic nominee for Senate.
“Both parties have become too politically extreme,” said Jonnah Taylor, 25, who works at a car dealership in Estherville, Iowa. “They’re just focused on their own issues and tearing each other down.”
“Josh Turek is breaking that habit,” added Mr. Taylor, a political independent who plans to support Mr. Turek in the fall. “He’s saying even though you’re a Republican, I still respect you. We’re both humans.”
A similar dynamic played out in North Carolina. Eric Dembinski, a 39-year-old Republican who recently retired from the U.S. Army, believes the Democratic Party has gone too far to the left, but he holds a far different view of Roy Cooper, his state’s Democratic nominee for Senate, even if he does not intend to support him.
“The further local you get, the less of the extremes you see,” Mr. Dembinski said. “Cooper, when he was governor, I didn’t feel like he was too radical. He’s different from the national Democrats.”
Many Republicans also benefit from a softer view of local candidates. In Maine, 49 percent of voters said the national Republican Party was too far to the right, but only 36 percent felt the same way about the state’s incumbent, Senator Susan Collins. Ms. Collins, who has held her seat since 1997, received high marks in the survey for her character and for looking out for Maine’s best interests.
An exception came in Texas, where voters were about equally concerned that Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, was too far to the right as they were about the Republican Party overall.
The differing views of parties and individual candidates were most stark among younger voters. Nationally, 65 percent of voters under 30 said that the Republican Party was too far to the right, while only 38 percent of that group said the same about their state’s Republican candidate. There was a similar disconnect in views of Democrats, though young voters were less concerned that the party or its candidates were too far to the left.
The question remains of whether these distinctions will lead a significant number of voters to cross party lines. But with views of the national parties remaining deeply negative, local candidates have incentives to distinguish themselves from their parties to gain support. Based on how voters view them, it seems to be working.
The post The Party Is Too Extreme, Except My Candidate appeared first on New York Times.
