The Smith Project: What Voters Want

Veteran pollster Pat Caddell’s Armada group has spent the past several years charting the alienation of the American electorate, constructing a fascinating model of what most Americans desire in the ideal political candidate – the great statesman, or stateswoman, voters want for our time.

Using a large volume of survey data, they created a hypothetical “Candidate Smith” whose platform would enjoy strong majority support from the entire country.

Here are some of the many highlights from the poll, which is attached below:

70% agree that the federal government today no longer has the consent of the people
79% want to recruit and support more candidates who are ordinary citizens rather than professional politicians and lawyer
A majority of voters would join a third party if it had a chance of success
77% prefer candidates who “take on the political elites and special interests” to those who conform to a set ideology

Considering how bitterly fractured the electorate has become, with intra-party disputes almost as vicious as the exchange of heavy artillery fire across the partisan divide, there is a remarkably strong consensus about what “Candidate Smith” would stand for. All of the existing candidates from both parties fall far short of this lofty ideal… and yet, the passionate supporters of every candidate in the race would insist their man or woman is Candidate Smith.

Caddell’s research therefore offers a fascinating insight into the nature of the great American divide.

More here