Professor: 'Snobbery' is harming the left, concrete issues win votes
Translated from Italian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
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- Political analyst Giovanni Orsina states that populist right-wing parties often gain more votes from less educated individuals and smaller towns, though economic factors are more complex.
- Orsina argues that the core political divide is not between reason and emotion, but between abstraction and concrete issues, with right-wing parties effectively promising to restore control and national identity.
- He criticizes the left for a "snobbish" attitude, exemplified by Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" remark, which alienates potential voters and proves politically damaging.
Abstract political concepts alienate voters, while concrete promises offer a sense of control and resonate more strongly, according to Luiss University professor Giovanni Orsina.
The real fracture, in my opinion, is not between reason and emotion, much less between intelligence and stupidity, it is between abstraction and concreteness.
Orsina explained that international studies show populist parties, particularly right-wing ones, tend to attract more votes from individuals with lower educational attainment and those living in smaller communities. However, he cautioned against oversimplification, noting that the relationship with economic conditions is more complex and that not everyone in smaller towns with less education necessarily earns less.
The fundamental political fracture, Orsina believes, lies not between reason and emotion, nor intelligence and stupidity, but between abstraction and concreteness. He asserts that people are more complex than statistics suggest, and the tendency to equate higher education with greater rationality can devalue the perspectives of those who vote right-wing.
Yes, and it is terribly damaging. The symbolic gaffe is that of Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she defined part of Trump's supporters as a basket of deplorables, accusing them of being racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic.
Right-wing parties succeed by promising to restore a sense of control and tangible reality to people who feel adrift in abstract systems. This strategy was also key to the success of the Five Star Movement. Orsina highlighted the concept of the nation as an immediately understandable idea that people can appeal to for protection, remaining a powerful, albeit weakened, bulwark.
This snobbery exists and the left is increasingly aware of it, but cannot find a solution.
He identified a "snobbish" attitude, which he called "terribly damaging," as a significant problem for the left. This condescension, exemplified by Hillary Clinton's 2016 "basket of deplorables" comment, persists despite the left's growing awareness. Orsina noted that while Meloni's response to Bonaccini was politically effective because it tapped into this "snobbery," the left struggles to find a solution or a unifying identity beyond past conflicts.
Yes, because it resonates precisely with the theme of 'snobbery'. Bonaccini's reasoning is understandable and empirically founded, but the echo of the basket of deplorables is still very strong.
About this summary
Originally published by Corriere della Sera in Italian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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