Maybe itâs just a professional preoccupation, but Iâve always been intrigued by why voters cast their ballots as they do. Iâve never made a formal study of it, but I have talked with plenty of them over the years, and one thing sticks with me from those conversations: Thereâs no one thing. People find a myriad of interesting â and sometimes idiosyncratic â reasons for voting this way or that.
Some care mostly about a single issue â abortion, say, or climate change â and if a politician doesnât meet muster on it, they donât even give her or him a second glance. Or they care about a candidateâs ideology or party â conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat â and donât feel much need to look beyond the label. For some decades, split-ticket voting was fairly common; that is, voters chose a Republican presidential candidate and a House Democrat or, less commonly, a Democrat for the White House and a GOP House member. This has grown much less common â in both federal and state elections. As ideological camps have hardened, party affiliation is part and parcel of who many people are.