Partisans only have to look at idiots on one side, while assuming people on their own side are not idiots. Independents are literally surrounded by idiots.

Partisans only have to look at one ideology they hate, and one they love. Independents are offered two ideologies that don't work for them, and none they love.

The world is literally a more negative place for people that don't like extremes.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Independents are usually not centrists but people who don't want to admit they're uninterested in politics. So yeah, politics is dumb and to them it also seems unnecessary, and they understand little enough to have really dumb, aggressive ideas when made to speak up.

[–] derbis@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What's the evidence for that?

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I have you covered! https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-moderate-middle-is-a-myth/

For whatever my experience is worth it also lines up with this. Centrists exist, but they're extremely rare somewhere as asymmetrically polarised as America, and even otherwise are just a small part of the minority of people who have a strong ideology of any kind.

[–] derbis@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the link. However, it doesn't seem to support the assertion that "independents are people who don't want to admit they're uninterested in politics."

Rather, it seems to support that those (Americans) who refuse to pick a side are unpredictable in their preferences.

It even says:

The upshot of all this is that if you’re a campaign trying to appeal to independents, moderates or undecided voters — or a concerned citizen trying to make sense of these groups in the context of an election — policy and ideology aren’t good frames of reference. There just isn’t much in terms of policy or ideology that unites these groups.

The closest thing to your assertion in here is this opinion:

As the political scientists Donald Kinder and Nathan Kalmoe put it, after looking at five decades of public opinion research, “the moderate category seems less an ideological destination than a refuge for the innocent and the confused.”

NB: "the moderate category," as distinct from independents. The article even takes pains to separate them:

Moderate, independent and undecided voters are not the same, and none of these groups are reliably centrist. They are ideologically diverse

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Well, they aren't interested enough in politics to come up with a consistent viewpoint, and they don't admit it, but I guess that doesn't explicitly show a motivation.

What kind of data would convince you?

[–] derbis@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean I hear you but that's still an unsupported extrapolation. What would convince me is evidence of the claim itself.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Like what? We do not have mind reading technology yet (well, technically we do, but not like this), so motive is hard to see on an instrument readout.