Everybody wants to back a winner

Day 746, 12:38 • Published in Canada Canada • by screamingslave

Last election I read a long debate about publishing results early and the effect it has on the election itself. So I’m politely asking that nobody puts the actual results in my comments. Thanks.

I think its interesting the psychology of humans where they look at things like how much star power does the candidate have, how much backing does the candidate have, do I think he’s a nice guy? and they unknowingly use that information when casting their vote. In fact sometimes that information has more pull on them below the surface than the candidates issues or platform does above the surface. Why? Because nobody wants to back a looser. Somewhere in our brains it is self validating to be on the “winning team” that’s after all how sports fanaticism works. Everybody wants to back the winning sports team/star and somehow they gain a personal sense of fulfillment from doing so.

So this election will be genuinely interesting? Why?

Because one candidate has a perceived advantage in support, and one candidate has an actual advantage in support.

So strictly speaking this election is in the bag if people only vote along party lines.

I wont offer any analysis, any official backings, these days the candidates are all the same and honestly I vote for the guy in 2nd place just to get the experience points. Its just like RL politics, there are only so many issues and honestly nobody wants to be the one to say “I oppose improving the economy so I can stand out from my opponents” so everybody just tries to find a creative way to say the same thing only differently! 😛

Good luck to everybody.