RADFORD, Va. – Update:
On both sides of the political spectrum, the rhetoric between candidates has evolved from respectful debates to antagonistic attacks.
I’ve talked to many people about the political climate, and there was one common theme for almost all of them, a recognition in an attacking rhetoric throughout both sides of the pollical spectrum, and a hope for change.
“They were so civil, there was so much respect on both sides,” said Jack Burgoyn. “It was like whoever was elected, there was a peaceful transfer of power. People are going to be content and support the president no matter who it is and we’re all going to work together as a nation.”
“I feel like as American people we just need to come together and agree to disagree on some things because the country is not going to get better and progress without coming together and uniting,” Luke Dalton said.
To learn about when this change started, I sat down to talk to political expert Dr. Chapman Rackaway. He said this started with the party realignment in the 90s.
“You didn’t have conservative and liberals split between each one of the parties the way you did before,” said Rackaway. “You had all conservatives on the republican side and all liberals on the democratic side. So, they stopped kind of talking to each other.”
He also said there are two other major factors resulting in where we are today.
“The big data revolution has told us that the so-called swing voters in the middle that used to cause candidates to moderate their stances, especially in a general election, those folks don’t vote,” said Rackaway. “There is no incentive to moderate your campaign messaging.”
The other is social social media.
“The environment that lets everyone share their opinions, good, bad, indifference or worse,” Rackaway said.
He said if this is going to change, it’ll have to be from the voters.
“It’s up to the individual voters to bust out of their echo chambers, intentionally seeking out people and viewpoints that don’t necessarily reinforce what they believe, and then trying to understand them,” Rackaway said.
Original Story:
On both sides of the political spectrum, the rhetoric between candidates has evolved from respectful debates to antagonistic attacks.
With the election here, we’ve talked to many voters and one common theme is the hope to return to respectful conversations.
10 News talked to Radford University political expert, Dr. Chapman Rackaway about this and he said there are three points that have resulted in where we are today: the realignment of parties in the 1990s, the turn from campaigning for the moderate voter, and social media’s role in elections.
Hear his solution to this tonight on 10 News.