The Political Center Is a Myth: Why Consultants Are Misreading the American Voter
Our guest says Democrats aren't too extreme, they're just invisible
The standard political analysis following an electoral defeat is clear: move toward the center. Documents like the post-election Deciding to Win report argue that Democrats must tone down cultural messaging, talk less about identity, and "focus relentlessly on economic concerns" to win back moderates who perceive them as "culturally out of step". It is a serious, data-driven argument, and versions of this recommendation have been made by thoughtful strategists and pollsters for years.
But what if the entire "move to the center" framework is built on an outdated model of how voters actually think?
On the Outrage Overload Podcast, we speak with Frank A. Spring, Chief of Research at Altam Insight, a narrative consultant who studies the cognitive neuroscience of story. Spring argues that the simple left/right ideological frame is "superannuated" and no longer reflects the American electorate. His deep qualitative research—long-form narrative interviews that focus on values and lived experience—reveals voters who are profoundly "politically heterodox".
The data is astonishingly inconsistent with the established left/right script. We discuss examples from his panels where Republican voters advocated for aggressively interventionist economic policies, including proposals to cap housing prices by federal fiat. Conversely, he found Democrats who dismissed the regulation of assault rifles as "impossible" but agreed with conservatives that there should be mandatory federal psychological testing for certain weapons purchases. Their policy preferences were "absurdly heterodox," held together only by a profound sense that politics "just was not working".
If voters are not reliably sorting along ideological lines, then the advice to move left or right may be solving the wrong problem.
Spring contends the real crisis is narrative confusion. Voters consistently know the Democratic Party is for diversity and inclusivity (DEI), but they "didn't know what else" the party was for beyond a few cultural signifiers. Furthermore, the common political fear that social issues are a debilitating "anchor" is challenged by the data. Spring's panels found that even Republicans considered the tonality of anti-trans ads to be "bullying and cruel," suggesting that this "anchor" is often a "myth" perpetuated by the outrage industry.
The solution, according to Spring, is not triangulation. It is clarity and coherence, achieved by answering a deeper, emotional question: "What does it feel like to live in the country that you govern?" Successful political campaigns must "conjure identity" and values, moving past the "overly cognitive" approach of simple policy slogans.
So, whether you agree with the "move to the center" thesis or not, the deeper question for democracy and depolarization remains: Are we even asking the right question?
To hear the full discussion with Frank A. Spring on why the political center is an illusion, how to tell a story that wins, and whether pro-rights candidates are actually burdened by social issues, listen to the latest episode of the Outrage Overload Podcast.
The Meta-Narrative: Why “It’s Always the Left’s Fault”
I recently interviewed Akil Vicks, who writes the Substack On One, to dive into his theory on the meta-narrative dominating American politics: the idea that "it's always the left's fault," which perpetually frames the left as "the fringe" and keeps Democrats on the defensive. Our conversation explored how this dynamic enables a profitable anti-woke industry and often results in a "context collapse" that strips away nuance from public debate. We discussed phenomena like the "left left me" narrative, ultimately questioning whether the core problems in politics stem from individuals or from the fundamental political institutions themselves. Check out the full interview for Akil Vicks' insights on how to break free from this limiting framework and start having "grownup conversation[s]" about our current system's trade-offs, even radical ideas like including democracy "in the economy".
New This Week in Outrage Episode!
It’s everything the Outrage Overload podcast is not. It’s not edited. It’s not scripted. It’s lightly researched. It’s David and Lisa talking about this week in outrage, what was in the news, in the memes, and maybe finding some backstory with a humorous (at least to us) twist.
Nice to read some reality for a change. If the "Center" even exists, and I highly doubt that it does, when anyone says "the Democrats need to move to the center" what they really mean is "the Democrats need to move to the right." Of course, the Democrats have been creeping toward the right wing since 1992, and this explains why your guest is correct that the Democratic Party is invisible. It's a deliberate strategy of the party to give lip service to the rights of workers, women, and minorities while concealing their corporatist agenda.
Thus, the Party's main activities are clandestine, and it keeps behind the curtain its constant efforts of asking for money from corporate interests. Its public hands are asking for public donations to fight off the threat of the Republicans, but don't pay any attention to the men behind the curtain that have their hands on the levers of power along with the Republicans. There is no narrative confusion because the Democrats aren't interested in clarity of narrative. They are too busy playing both sides.
Meanwhile, the public wants an alternative to this fake wrestling match within the party Duopoly. There are hints of a move to the left wing within the party, but the Democratic Party Establishment is as against Progressives more than they are against Republicans.