Mentzer: Seeking cures for a boring election year
Americans are tuning out from this year's race. What would get us back?
Mentzer: Seeking cures for a boring election year Americans are tuning out from this year's race. What would get us back? Check out this story on wausaudailyherald.com: http://wdhne.ws/1xD200N
Robert Mentzer Published 11:00 p.m. CT Oct. 10, 2014 | Updated 12:03 p.m. CT Oct. 11, 2014
Face it. We're bored with elections this year.(Photo: bevangoldswain, Getty Images/iStockphoto)
"Many Americans" are often wrong about things, but I must say I tend to agree with us when it comes to this year's midterm elections.
They're kind of ... boring?
"For many Americans, a 'meh' midterm," wrote the Pew Research Center on Wednesday, in a write-up of public opinion polling that found 2014 to be "an especially underwhelming (election) cycle for many." Only 15 percent of Americans say they are "very closely" following news about the midterms, Pew found. It was 25 percent in the last two non-presidential years of 2010 and 2006.
Another 22 percent in the new survey said they were following elections "fairly closely," but that still left 25 percent who were following "not too closely" and a depressing plurality victory of 39 percent who said they were not following it at all.
Americans' interest in politics this year lags well behind previous midterms. (Photo: Pew Research)
Why the "meh"? Maybe it's gerrymandering. Maybe it's the dull grind of partisan gridlock in Washington, or, for that matter, single-party dysfunction in Wisconsin. Maybe it's the fact that, indisputably, we have lived through several of the most interesting and exciting political years anyone can remember — a gubernatorial recall and presidential race in 2012, a massive Republican wave in 2010; Barack Obama's historic presidential campaign in 2008.
Maybe it's my fault; as a card-carrying member of the mainstream news media, isn't it my job to get people interested in this stuff?
Seth Motel, a research analyst writing for Pew, even speculated that it may be that "so many news stories outside electoral politics are capturing the headlines" — tense, captivating stories from Ebola to ISIS to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
I don't know. But I would be interested in hearing from readers. Are you following this year's elections as closely as you have previous elections? If not, why not? Are you fed up with the mudslinging and negativity? Are you hopeless about the possibility of victory for your favorite candidate?
Or do the Pew survey and I have it wrong, and actually this is a great year to be engaged?
And while you're at it, tell me this: What do you want to see in these waning weeks of the campaigns? What are the key stories and pieces of information you'll need?
Because whether or not we're paying attention, the pols we elect on Nov. 4 will have a say in our lives. We probably ought to try to get it right.
Robert Mentzer is regional opinion editor for Gannett Central Wisconsin Media. Contact: rmentzer@gannett.com, 715-845-0604. Twitter: @robertmentzer.
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