Preferences for a pet or car may offer a clue about who people are voting for, according to Marc Hetherington, a Vanderbilt political science professor. He gave a lecture last Wednesday in Hyder Auditorium on personalities, polarization and the political parties of 2016. The room was about one-third full, mostly students.
Hetherington kept the audience engaged as he shared facts and moved around the stage, making eye contact with everyone. He also told jokes and stories, taking a complex, sometimes controversial topic and breaking it down into categories. The professor and author explained how personal choices affect the way people vote.
The main point was about the connections between personality types and this year’s deep political polarization. Hetherington had a list of preferences, such as pets, television shows, food items and cars, as indicators of which way we lean to vote. He even mentioned how various parenting styles can have an impact on people and their political affiliations.
“We just don’t understand our differences,” he said. “Politics are all about disliking the other group.”
Hetherington pointed out that these differences make it hard for people to relate to each other and see the other side’s perspective.