It worked against Democrats because the Republican base does not care about facts and just need a reason, fact or fiction, to justify the outrage they are told to feel.
Ironic that you would confuse your emotionally felt bias, for a fact. There are many good and decent people, who are firmly rooted in reality and facts, that count themselves as part of the Republican base. We need to return to political argument, rather than vilification.
Just because people are "good and decent" doesn't mean that the outcomes they support are thus.
As for facts even without the recent "alternate facts" the truth is you can easily come to radically different conclusions even based on the same facts.
That's all fodder for valid political debate. My objection is the denigration and condemnation of those with differing opinions. It's immature and toxic.
> Just because people are "good and decent" doesn't mean that the outcomes they support are thus.
That's exactly what many on the right think of leftist policies. That the bulk of sustainable and healthy solutions should come from the grassroots, and that many government interventions are unsustainable and have profound unintended negative consequences that aren't fully appreciated by the calculus of the left.
> There are many good and decent people, who are firmly rooted in reality and facts, that count themselves as part of the Republican base.
I'm sure that's true, but those people aren't being voted for. Those people aren't in power and as long as people are voting for literal Nazis there is no discussion to be had. Can't have a rational discussion with people who don't believe you should even exist.
The most recent research suggests partisanship, esp negative partisanship, is rooted in identity. Which is to say facts, beliefs, positions are besides the point.
There have been many more recent follow ups, but the two books I read were Democracy for Realists by Achen and Bartels, and Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein.
As a recovering activist, this has been very hard for me to accept and adjust to. What hope is there if discourse and persuasion don't, can't work? I have no clue.
