Bush Supporters

Kevin Drum has a post on how Bush supporters are wrong about Bush's positions and the fact that 92% of people whose primary concern is terrorism support Bush. Both of these reflect the importance of personality in American politics. Even in the information age, most people don't have a detailed understanding of most issues, especially regarding foreign policy. As a result, politicians' images take on a magnified importance as voters look for someone they feel they can trust, while character traits like "toughness" and "compassion" become subsitutes for substantive positions on the issues. President Bush understands this, and has made a personality cult his political centerpiece. I've often been in conversations with his supporters where they rationalize ways to justify perceived shortcomings in his policy, such as things the President knows that the general public doesn't or Bush failing to articulate his true greatness because he's just a regular guy.

One additional point on the terrorism thing: Perhaps because 9-11 was billed as a "Pearl Harbor," most Americans perceived it as the beginning of a struggle against al-Qaeda, and give Bush credit for the lack of terrorist attacks since then. They simply din't grasp that this struggle began during the 1990's, with the first 9-11 attack and foiled Los Angeles airport bombing, and continues today in attacks on American allies abroad such as Spain. I believe this and the "toughness" line are the sole reasons for widespread support for Bush on the terrorism issue.