Can-Science-Explain-the-Rise-of-Bernie-Sanders

[wilsonbooks]

Snip
In 2011, researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute published "Social Consensus Through the Influence of Committed Minorities." In it, they lay out the results of a study that measured how popular opinion was affected by so-called "randomly distributed, committed agents." In other words, they measured how people tend to react when they encounter others with unwaveringly strong beliefs.

The results are telling. When just ten percent of a given social network (or group of people in contact with one another) espoused a strong opinion, the rest of the people in that network rapidly followed suit. In other words, when ten percent of a society believes something, everybody else rapidly adopts that minority view, quickly making it the majority opinion.

If, then, ten percent of our hypothetical Facebook group suddenly adopted the view that a minimum wage raise would benefit conservatives and liberals alike, that idea has a statistically high chance of gaining traction—with the caveat that the others in the group must be open-minded enough to change their mind. In other words, they can't be "committed agents" themselves.


Snip
All of this points to one, inescapable conclusion: politics is a war of information, and only the most successful cultural replicators will ultimately prevail. In a loose sense, the 2016 presidential race could be called a war of memes, so it's no surprise that populist candidates like Sanders have been so successful in organizing them into a robust and powerful ideology.



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/25/1454376/-Can-Science-Explain-the-Rise-of-Bernie-Sanders

[wilsonbooks]

1. Thom Hartmann's take on it.

[Demeter]

2. that 10% has to be part of the larger group

Even if 10% of the electorate supports a GOP candidate, they are in their own little world, and won't draw in outsiders.

[wilsonbooks]

4. I hope you are right about trump.

I find that a lot of people are a mixed bag when it comes to ideology. I know several people who lean Democratic and /or are Union members who are strongly anti immigration. Trump appeals to bigots and racists and there are a lot of them out there.

[Gman]

5. I'd say the number is around 50%

I that are that mixed bag. I get that figure from knowing the most conservative of the conservatives and liberal of the liberals each comprise around 25-30% of the general population. You see it in polls all the time. This year those numbers are approximately both Sanders and Trump's numbers. Not really exact but, in general. That leaves 40-50% mixed bag and/or independent.

But in my observations, it's the social issues rather than economic issues that motivate people.

[PatrickforO]

3. You're talking about us reaching the 'tipping point' for moving

away from the social Darwinist, neoliberal 'free market' system toward a better system that will make life much more worth living for more people.

Good for you and for RPI. Very cool.

[Texas Blues]

6. Hopefully, Facebook and Google can help this cycle

I hear they can adjust search results and auto-deletion of controversial pages, like basically anything right wing. Hopefully they will be able to make an adjustment that will make a difference in the voting patterns. We need all the help we can get in the battleground states.