At an early age, I absorbed and followed the Pareto Principle. The 80/20 rule. It explained so much to me that was all around me.
But I follow a different path nowadays. Thirds. About 1/3 of the adult population votes for Donald Trump. About 1/3 of the adult population sits out elections. And of the 74 million voters for Trump, we see that about 1/3 are just straight R-ballot clickers/Chamber of Commerce/country club Republicans. Call 'em whatever you want, but they've always voted this way and they will continue to vote that way. I know y'all think they're idiots, but most of 'em are decent folks who just pull that lever no matter what since Goldwater. 1/3 of his voters came out of the woodwork, that's how he won. They finally felt validated and got a seat at the big kid's table of political engagement. They'll fade back into obscurity after he's defeated and/or dies (despite a few mass shootings). It's the middle 1/3 that puzzles me. The folks that are civically engaged and vote, know what Trump is up to and all about, and still vote for him anyway. That's the 1/3rd you have to worry about. Most of them are fairly educated and people of faith, so how do they come to terms with their adoration of this man? That's the thing we still don't understand after a decade. Mike Johnson and Donald Trump and their ilk, they get 1/3rd straight ticket voters. No point in over-analyzing it, just always gonna happen. They get 1/3rd racist morons that feel their twisted value set is just kosher. Was bound to happen as things change, and most of them will go away. But that middle 1/3rd, what is their rationale? They're not the morons you think they are, they had to justify in their heads. And it was more than just owning the Libs. And the fact that we simply do not understand, despite the research, how they came to these electoral conclusions worries me more than who they voted for. What else are they capable/incapable of? What happens next?