CNN Poll: Likability helps Obama survive brutal weEK

[patrice]

6. & They can't make themselves look any better by saying something relatively positive, because

that would fracture the base that they are trying to build. Any positivity on any issue would be taken as cause for desertion by, not only by those lined up against whatever that particular issue is, but also by that issue's supporters, as they would no longer regard negative associations of any kind as useful to promoting their issue.

As long as the body of the electorate is primarily single-issue oriented, they will be lied to about the positives and negatives of any and all political identities. This is commonly referred to as divide-and-conquer.