Conservatives and liberals don't just differ in their philosophies: the two groups are actually wired differently. According to recent research, liberals tend to have a larger interior cingulate gyrus, an area of the brain which takes in new information and regulates the impact of that information on decision making. Conservatives, meanwhile, tend to have a larger right amygdala, a deeper brain structure which processes fear-based information.
Given these tendencies, it's not surprising that Democratic politicians work to educate, inform and inspire voters, while Republicans typically try to scare the wits out of their constituency. Unfortunately, the GOP approach often proves more powerful, even among previously liberal voters (such as those who voted for Trump after supporting Obama in two prior presidential elections).
“Democrats say they’ll help people, but Republicans offer to protect them from the things that frighten them the most,” said my husband, a thoughtful fellow lefty who shares my despair at what's going on in US politics right now. “That's a pretty powerful argument.”
While there's little factual basis for many conservative worries, it doesn't matter — as we saw time and time again during the past election cycle, many GOP voters treat feelings as though they were facts. (See this Newt Gingrich interview for a example of how this appalling mindset works.)
While I'm not suggesting that Democratic politicians should begin lying to the public, or even rely on reality-based but crassly manipulative tactics, it's high time they address some terrifying truths head-on. We can promote our vision for the future later: right now we have to focus on the immediate threats we face. If Democratic politicians keep doling out insipid, vaguely-hopeful platitudes, voters will walk away, and candidates will keep getting their clocks cleaned.
Yeah, there are people out there who's right amygdala will block them from ever acknowledging how vulnerable their health, housing, environment, education and jobs are right now. But we can't focus on them. We have to motivate everyone else to fight for their survival, and at least for the moment, scaring them with the truth might be the best way of accomplishing this.
Again, there is certainly a place for laying out a positive vision and asking people to vote in their self-interests, and ideally this approach would build the foundation for a brighter future. But sadly, at present it's unlikely to work. Right now we need to embrace the politics of fear, not by triggering raw emotions but by making sure people know what could happen to them if they don't defend themselves.