Pollster Ron Faucheux: What happened to the political center?
Lunchtime Politics, said at Monday’s Press Club meeting.
Faucheux began the discussion by saying there is only one true centrist Democrat left in the U.S. Senate, referencing Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Hard votes on either side of Congress are replacing the larger center that used to exist, Faucheux says. This polarization in Congress makes it hard to get anything passed.
There are two major reasons for this widening divide, Faucheux says: technology and money.
Technology means information moves faster than before. It’s now a 24/7 news continuum, Faucheux says, not a cycle. Most information the parties put on the internet is now about destroying the opposition, not finding compromise.