During election campaigns, politicians try to get people to put up signs showing support for them. And recently on twitter, there were some accusations being bandied about of candidates setting up fake accounts to make it look like more people were talking about them.
Which makes me wonder: why do politicians want so much to appear popular during election campaigns?
Your instinctive answer is probably "Because being popular is good, duh!"
But think about it as a voter. If the party you most strongly oppose appears very popular, wouldn't you be more inclined to vote strategically to defeat them? If the party you most strongly support appears very popular, wouldn't the idea of staying home on election day be more tempting?
I can see why parties that are considered fringe might want to look more popular, so they can be considered viable mainstream candidates. But if you're already a mainstream candidate, I can't imagine how appearing more popular than you actually are would help get out the vote in your favour.
1 comment:
One school of thought holds that many people are only comfortable supporting views, parties, policies (etc.) that are popular. A kind of constant mental peer pressure.
I would think most adults would be over this, but it's supposed to be a factor.
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