Politics: Disliking Republicans, Voting for Them Anyway

KEVIN DRUM relates the seemingly odd temper of the American voter:

Americans trust Democrats more to handle the country's problems, they think Democrats represent their values better, they think Democrats are more concerned with the needs of people like them, and they think Democrats deserve to be reelected at a higher rate than Republicans. They also think...that George Bush is substantially more to blame for our economic woes than Barack Obama.

And the result of all this? They say they plan to vote for Republicans by landslide numbers. It's the economy, stupid.

Does this make any sense? Andrew Gelman, a Columbia University political scientist, thinks so:

Those 10% or so of voters who plan to vote Republican—even while thinking that the Democrats will do a better job—are not necessarily being so unreasonable. The Democrats control the presidency and both houses of Congress, and so it's a completely reasonable stance to prefer them to the Republicans yet still think they've gone too far and need a check on their power.

For more, see Disliking Republicans, Voting for Them Anyway by W.W., September 8, 2010 at The Economist.