Why so hard to change your political affiliation?

Politics & Elections
1

I’m opening this thread, rather than continue querying the OP in here because he requested that he not be questioned and I agreed to drop the questions there, so please do not refer to him by name in this thread, but rather explain what you think goes on in the mind of anyone who takes the position “I vote in alignment with the X Party but I will never, ever be an X.”

To me, it’s a “Does Not Compute” situation.

And to be clear, it’s completely unimportant that anyone actually register formally as an X. Why should that even matter? What I’m discussing is a recognition that your general principles and voting practices line up pretty closely with a political party, so either you or your party has changed in recent years, making you a de facto member of that party.

It’s been explained that someone might not agree with everything the X party stands for, so he can’t consider himself an X, but that really doesn’t hold up for me. Hardly anyone agrees with every, or even most, policies of any party. To some degree, we’re all “I hold my nose and vote for the lesser of two evils” voters, if “agreeing with every position of my party” is the alternative.

In fact, I would say that most staunch Democrats proudly proclaim that NOT buying every bit of the party line is WHY they’re Democrats–that’s certainly why I consider myself a Democrat, though there are a hundred things I wish the Democratic Party would be doing differently.

But if the Democrats reversed all of their positions, and the Republican Party became the home of progressive thinking, I would have zero problem acknowledging, “Hey, you know what–I’m a Republican.” It’s a nauseating thought to me now, even just phrasing that statement as a hypothetical, but if it ever became a reality, I’d be foolish to reject the label, in my view.

It’s just a word, after all. If its meaning changes, and it applies to you, why not apply it?

2

Some people have integrated their political party into their personal identity, for various reasons. Publicly rejecting Republicans would be like publicly disowning their ethnicity; it’s literally unthinkable, to the point that they don’t even believe it’s possible.

3

I’ll be curious to hear some of these.

4

I’m certain that peer pressure is a major factor. If everyone around you is staunchly one party, it’s easier to just go along with it and privately vote for the other guys, but publicly spout the party line, or at least not publicly object to the party line, so as not to rock the boat with family, friends, neighbors, etc.

5

Okay, but I’m not even talking about public statements necessarily–I’m talking about how one feels about oneself. To me, assuming I felt intense peer pressure to remain a member of a party from family and friends, I might keep my mouth shut in public, but I’d still be thinking “It’s strange that no one knows I’m not a Y anymore, but rather an X.”

6

People are tribal and joiners, I guess. If their parents were proudly part of the XYZ party and they have always been part of it, it can be hard to change. How many people change their religion, even within various Protestant denominations? The differences between Lutherans and Methodists (from my perch) seem much smaller than between the Republicans and the Democrats, but I would wager that most people stay within their particular denomination.

7

Again, what I’m discussing is an event AFTER the XYZ party has changed its policies, or you have. To take your example, and I don’t doubt what you’re asserting, just questioning its validity, if the Methodists stopped believing in something you fundamentally believe–let’s say the divinity of Christ or the existence of God–and the Lutherans proudly proclaimed it, how does one say to himself “I’m still a loyal Methodist”? To me, it would be normal to say “Huh. I guess I’m a Lutheran now.” At least, to myself, that’s what I’d be thinking.

8

People stuck by the Catholic church after all of their scandals.

I like the NY Giants, but if they were accused of abusing kids and hiding it, I would root for another team. But, I’m not really a tribal person.

9

Hoss: Clem, are you a Republican, or a Democrat?
Clem: I’m a Democrat. My daddy was a Democrat and his daddy was a Democrat.
Hoss: Well, if your daddy was a horse thief and his daddy was a horse thief, what would that make you?
Clem: A Republican, I guess.

10

I’d think the difference is, am I voting for Party X, or am I voting against Party Y? If I’m voting for them, then there wouldn’t be a problem saying, “I’m an X”, but if I’m voting against Party Y, that doesn’t mean I’m an X, it means I’m an anti-Y.

Here in Canada, I used to vote Conservative, but their slide into insanity over the last 15 years or so drove me away from them. So now I’m voting either Liberal or NDP, based on which vote will more likely keep the Conservatives out of power. So I’m not really a Liberal or an NDPer, I’d be happy with either winning the election over the Conservatives.

11

Again, it’s their personal identity. They think “I was born White, male, Republican, Christian, hetero, and 'Murican,” and not a one of those things, in their minds, can ever be altered.

For those of us that don’t think that way, I agree, that’s really bizarre. But all the interactions I’ve ever had with such people tells me that’s exactly what they think. You’re looking for reason and logic where there is none.

12

Well, yeah, that’s what I’m questioning.

I like the NY Giants

Another good example. I’ve actually switched my long-term rooting interest when “my” team started playing the kind of ball I dislike, and started hiring clueless managers to defend that kind of ball ineptly, and in general started behaving like a team I usually root against hard. You can only be a loyal member of any group for so long, or at least I can, before questioning your identifying with that group at all.

13

Or at least to be told, by the person holding such positions, that their reasons aren’t susceptible to logic. I can accept irrationality much better than being assured “I have my own reasons which I would like to remain private, please.”

If your tribal identity is more important to you than rationality, I wish you’d just say so.

14

Well that’s the fucked up part about it. They think that’s perfectly rational, and you and I are the crazy people.

15

The identity stuff is definitely part of it, but sometimes it’s also just plain old self-righteousness: “I didn’t leave the party, the party left me.” You’re standing there holding out the truth and the light, and it’s all the heathens around you who turned away. How pure and noble you are, standing among the savages like that.

16

As soon as they acknowledge that, though, I can walk away from the discussion, assured that I’ve talking to someone who’s not interested in exchanging ideas, just in wasting my time and effort trying to understand what he’s saying. His answer is, in effect, “I yam what I yam” so I’m happy to leave him to his yammering.

17

Here’s the most important lesson one can take from electoral politics — “not everybody thinks like me.”

18

IMHO, one of the biggest difficulties in switching sides is that it opens the door to endless “I told you so” and also goes fundamentally against the team loyalty that you built in for decades. On top of that, there are only 2 major parties, who are diehard opponents of the other.

Imagine - oh well, some sports analogy. Not only is it like a Yankees fan having to ditch the Yankees after 30 years of being a diehard NYY fan, but he has to root for the Red Sox. He has to go to Fenway and chant “Yankees Suck.” It’s not like he’s choosing to become a Mariners, Athletics, Tigers or Rangers fan.

19

I think that the issue here is that no one owes you an explanation for their thinking. You may intensely want to understand it, you may feel like you should question it (and maybe even try to talk them into changing their mind), but it comes down to the fact that it’s their choice to engage with you (or not) in a discussion.

Let it go, dude.

20

It was tribal for me, though I didn’t recognize it until the Trump years. In my mind, it was a clear-headed, logical decision, one that aligned me with a party (and identity) most aligned with my values (center-right, though now I’d describe myself as center-left). For a long time I’d hear opinions on the authoritarian, hateful, “serve the rich” strategies of the GOP, but I’d roll my eyes at such baseless demonization. I was a Republican, and when discussing politics over a cigar with my tribe, it felt very comfortable. I had never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. Never.

And then along came Trump.

He was so vile, hateful, and incompetent I could not associate myself with such a candidate or a party that could support one. And when I saw the frothing-at-the-mouth tribalism on display—how could anyone hitch their wagon to such an evil idiot?—I began to recognize my own “tribalism lite.” The times where it was most important that “we win,” as opposed to being right. I would not have categorized it that way at the time.

And if you say I am just an example of what you described, someone who jumped ship when my party changed, I’d answer that my party was well on that path for decades. But I denied it. It was all just partisan vitriol! And as a result, I’ve changed virtually my entire political philosophy.

I’ll give you just one of many examples. I railed against ACA when it was introduced. What a government overstep! What an intrusion on individual rights! And then I saw people weeping at town halls after Trump was elected, begging that it not be repealed so that they wouldn’t die (literally). Now I believe that universal healthcare is a fundamental obligation of a wealthy nation like ours. And so on.

So, for me, it took Trump. But based on where I’ve landed, it should have happened decades ago. Tribalism is a strong influence, and admitting you were so, so wrong is a tough pill to swallow. I have one lefty pal who still busts my balls (with love) over my “conversion.”

I know on the SDMB this seems like virtue signaling, but you asked and it’s true. For me, the party had to change to the point where it changed me. And now I’m a Democrat who would not vote for a Republican at any level.