2008-09-19 Scientists Explain Why People Vote For Republicans

2008-09-19  Gawker \human nature\US Republican Party\US conservatism http://gawker.com/5052329/scientists-explain-why-people-vote-for-republicans Scientists Explain Why People Vote For Republicans Scientists Explain Why People Vote For Republicans  Every election season, commentators trot out the old statistics about how more education makes people more likely to support Democrats, more studies are published on how liberal Daily Show viewers are so well-informed, and various smart people try to explain why anyone would ever vote for a Republican, against their "self-interest." This month has seen three alarming and remarkable scientific investigations into Americans' inexplicable habit of voting for George Bush and John McCain. Which means: trend! Hooray! Let's take a look at what America's top scienticians say about fucking idiot flyover losers and their stupid voting: Scientific results summarized include:
 * John Alford in Science finds that conservatives are more easily frightened
 * Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler's backfire effect study, which found that conservatives hear refutations as reaffirming what they already believe
 * Jonathan Haidt's essay in which he reports that conservatives metaphorically prefer candy over medicine, and that Jonathan Haidt is happy to provide signtiffic arguments for them to use against those darn close-minded liberals

a collection of scientific investigations into why people vote Republican   