# Stupid, misinformed, ignorant voters? Do the differences matter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 24, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175 "2024-10-24T21:44:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/21 "2024-10-27T19:46:49Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > There is another category that is not included, and that is “intelligent but biased.” > > Many Trump supporters (and conspiracy theorists) are in fact highly educated and knowledgeable. Many are engineers or work in trades that require high IQ. They aren’t dumb by any stretch; same for many deeply-religious folks. That falls under the “willfully ignorant/delusional” subcategory. In fact engineers specifically are known to have an unusually high proportion of religious and right wing extremists worldwide; the theory I’ve heard to explain it is that since engineering is about _how_ to do things rather than understanding the history or nature of the world it allows smart, well educated fanatics to avoid confronting their baseless or false beliefs. You can be a creationist and still be a good engineer, but not a good biologist or cosmologist. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/22 "2024-10-28T12:36:24Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > The only thing that defines evil is the results. To be fair, the exchange began with an attribution of _motivations_. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > > [@The\_Librarian](#): > > > > They are spitefull, hatefull and plain evil. > > The cruelty is the point. > > It is about hurting the people that are supposed to hurt. > > I suspect at least some of them simply lack compassion, as opposed to feeling active spite/hate. Not sure if you consider excessive self interest and a lack of compassion/interest in a safety net for the less fortunate to be “pure evil.” I don’t think I do. Evils can be the end result of aggressive hate or can result out of _acedia_, of mental/spiritual inertia, not bothering to know, care or act about something or to really ask if you should. The church fathers classed that under the capital vice of Sloth because yes, it does bear evil fruit, as a sin of _omission_, The willful ignorance caused by only informing yourself and thinking critically about what’s “in your lane” and _who cares about anything outside of it_, as described by **Der\_Trihs** is often a special case of this. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/23 "2024-10-28T12:43:31Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > And being looked down on cements them in their lean. I’m really tired of this. It’s fine to people voting for Harris vermin, communists, traitors, anti-American, domestic enemies, snowflakes, whatever, but you call someone misinformed. No one ever worries that calling Democrats or liberals “the enemy”, “elitist”, “baby-killers”, etc., will further cement their votes. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/24 "2024-10-28T12:47:11Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > No one ever worries that calling Democrats or liberals “the enemy”, “elitist”, “baby-killers”, etc., will further cement their votes. If I was still a Republican, I would totally worry. Trump is a weak candidate because of that. Harris only has a chance because Trump is so bigoted. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/25 "2024-10-28T12:53:42Z")
Maybe you can point to some handwringing on that side of the political divide, by people who still support that side. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/26 "2024-10-28T13:47:01Z")
Re last post, as soon as internet search engines came out, it became possible to find a link for anything desired. But this request is super-easy to find. Here is the first link I came to today (from X — Rick Wilson’s whole tweet is below): [ If the insults last night to Puerto Rico, Latinos, Jews, blacks, and women weren’t really a problem, why are @LaCivitaC and Susie Wiles telling reporters they had nothing to do with it? ](https://x.com/TheRickWilson/status/1850877815664574885) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/27 "2024-10-28T13:53:35Z")
From his Wiki page: > A former member of the Republican Party > In 2018, Wilson released his first book, Everything Trump Touches Dies, in which he laments the re-alignment of the Republican Party behind Trump.[25][26][27] The book reached number one on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list for a week.[28] An audiobook read by Wilson was released alongside the print version. > Wilson’s second book, entitled Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump – and Democrats from Themselves, was published in January 2020. > [@RitterSport](#): > > …by people who still support that side. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/28 "2024-10-28T13:55:19Z")
Anybody else notice that the “Make America Great Again” cohort is also the “My country: love it or leave it” cohort? They truly are profoundly irony-impaired. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/29 "2024-10-28T14:09:07Z")
Re RitterSport’s last post, Rick Wilson was citing what Trump’s campaign mangers said. Hundreds of articles like this must exist: [Republicans Rip Into “Foolish” Trump for Losing Focus](https://newrepublic.com/post/184904/republicans-donald-trump-campaign-strategy-focus) At the National Review, handwringing is a specialty: [Trump’s Trainwreck](https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/trumps-trainwreck/) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/30 "2024-10-28T14:14:59Z")
The NR is also anti-Trump. I’d love to see an article from Fox News or the NY Post where they worry about working class people in NY delis the same way that the NY Times worries about folks in Midwest diners. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/31 "2024-10-28T14:23:15Z")
The Midwest diner folk are in swing states and are a major decider in the election. NY diner crowd? Not so much so. Probably more fair to look for concern over his unpopularity with woman voters as the comparison. I don’t watch Fox but pretty sure there has been handwringing and attempted reframing/rewriting/lying based on that? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/32 "2024-10-28T14:27:05Z")
Maybe? I suppose this is off-topic, though. Is someone who is complaining about illegal immigrants and voting for Trump because of that stupid or misinformed? Did they hear that Trump killed the conservative-drafted bi-partisan immigration bill? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/33 "2024-10-28T14:31:27Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Is someone who is complaining about illegal immigrants and voting for Trump because of that stupid or misinformed? Did they hear that Trump killed the conservative-drafted bi-partisan immigration bill? Very often, I find when you confront MAGA with inconvenient facts they shut down or simply deny them. Trump could look up into the noon sky, comment on how bright the moon is, and attack the person who correctly tells Trump he’s looking at the moon. For a group of people fond of wearing “Fuck Your Feelings” attire a few years back, these people are ruled by their feelings. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/34 "2024-10-28T14:39:22Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > these people are ruled by their feelings. And you think the D side is devoid of that? Humans are not Vulcans. On immigration I think neither stupid or misinformed necessarily. Upset. And incompletely informed. In my conversations they know about Trump’s killing the bill but they question why it had gotten “so bad” before that with “so little done.” ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/35 "2024-10-28T14:44:10Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > And you think the D side is devoid of that? I don’t remember the D side wearing shirts that say Fuck Your Feelings – maybe I missed that. No one thinks that Democrats, liberals, progressive are too insensitive about people’s feelings. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/36 "2024-10-28T14:53:04Z")
Not the issue, being “ruled by feelings” was, but I’ll play! Of course we say fuck their feelings. Their feelings are fear and resentment mostly over a perceived loss of relative status. They get their feeling all hurt over scary books in school libraries. You don’t read a lot of “fuck their feelings” about that? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/37 "2024-10-28T14:57:32Z")
I read tons about how we have to be concerned about their needs and resentments, that they feel economic insecurity and feel condescended to by elites, and should be handled with kid gloves. I read people saying that if you’re the favored demographic, treating others fairly can feel unfair, and we should understand that, and that’s why they are voting to tear things down. But, sure, when they are hatefully discriminating against and harming trans kids because they are transphobic, for example, I do hear more fuck them in those cases, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/38 "2024-10-28T17:43:47Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > And you think the D side is devoid of that? > > Humans are not Vulcans. I said they’re ruled by their emotions not that they have them. Trumpers live in an alternate reality because they are emotionally incapable of examing anything that challenges their conceptions. Are there Democrats like that? Sure. But I can sit down with the Democratic base and have a constructive conversation because we all agree on the basic facts. I can’t do that with the Republican base these days. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175/39 "2024-10-29T06:20:20Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > And being looked down on cements them in their lean. No, refusing to condemn them “cements them in their lean”. After all, why would their opponents shy away from criticizing them and constantly pander to them _unless_ those opponents knew they were right? As well as being “weak cowards”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-misinformed-ignorant-voters-do-the-differences-matter/1009175.md?page=1)