> This is by design. The game theoretic winning strategy is to highly target 50% of the voting population (adjusted for electoral representation) and by doing that you are guaranteed to piss off or confuse a lot of the remainder. Imagine you craft a set of policies that appeals to 70% of the voting population. I then craft a set of policies that appeals to 65% but because it is smaller it is also more highly targeted so it steals voters from you. You then craft a set of policies that appeals to 60% but because it is smaller it is more highly targeted and you steal voters for me. Continue until we both have policies that appeal to 50%. The rest is pretty much up to chance and incumbent effects.

I still think though that with American politics at least, the average voter isn't ideologically dogmatic enough to be resistance to counter-points by the other side that appeal to base emotions of security and economic prosperity. Jobs and Crimes platforms are potent. The two sides aren't equally weighted. One side as an advantage that the above strategy needs to overcome in a better way than "Defund (disband) police."

>At least, that is why I think Tucker Carlson was mad about M&M's being made less sexy than they once were.

That's a very generous take on the matter . . . but I think it's more comedic to think there is something else going on lol.