Political Outlook 2016

The most interesting pollster is Larry Sabato, who recently had this to say about the presidential candidates:

… most of them are human tape recorders. On the top 25 or 30 issues, each has memorized a paragraph or two; mention the issue and the candidates push the “play” button in their heads. Almost word-for-word each time, they recite the pollster-researched, consultant-approved soundbites designed to produce a Pavlovian response in partisans.

Problem is, Americans would generally prefer to elect a human being, not an automaton. It’s at least possible that a few more intractable problems would get solved if potential presidents were less inflexible — or so it appears to many voters.

That helps explain the popularity of the unscripted (or less scripted) Trump, Carson, Fiorina and Sanders. Sabato adds

not caring about electability sometimes makes a politician more electable.

Reminds me of my single years.