Bernie Sanders, the Trumpist of the left

Sanders supporters favor his policies?

Very interesting.

For example, this.

Moreover, warm views of Mr. Sanders increased the liberalism of young Democrats by as much as 1.5 points on the seven-point ideological scale. 

For many of them, liberal ideology seems to have been a short-term byproduct of enthusiasm for Mr. Sanders rather than a stable political conviction.

Perhaps for that reason, the generational difference in ideology seems not to have translated into more liberal positions on concrete policy issues — even on the specific issues championed by Mr. Sanders. 

For example, young Democrats were less likely than older Democrats to support increased government funding of health care, substantially less likely to favor a higher minimum wage and less likely to support expanding government services. 

Their distinctive liberalism is mostly a matter of adopting campaign labels, not policy preferences.

And also their skepticism concerning voter behavior, though they are more than a little cagey about whatever they think is the moral of the tale.

All they really show is that there are other factors involved in determining political loyalties, party identifications, and voting behavior than preferences over competing agendas.

All rather less shocking than the authors seem to think, and if this is supposed to be some sort of de-bunking of democracy I just don't see it.

The notion that elections are decided by voters’ carefully weighing competing candidates’ stands on major issues reflects a strong faith in American political culture that citizens can control their government from the voting booth. 

We call it the “folk theory” of democracy.

. . . .

But wishing does not make it so. Decades of social-scientific evidence show that voting behavior is primarily a product of inherited partisan loyalties, social identities and symbolic attachments. 

Over time, engaged citizens may construct policy preferences and ideologies that rationalize their choices, but those issues are seldom fundamental.

. . . .

Abraham Lincoln promised Americans “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” a notable departure from the republican system set up by the architects of the Constitution. 

In the 150 years since Lincoln, the ideal of government “by the people” has reshaped Americans’ democratic aspirations and their political practices — for example, in the Progressive Era introductions of direct primary elections and referendums and initiatives. 

It has also altered the way journalists and analysts see and describe electoral politics.

But that ideal makes sense, descriptively and normatively, only if citizens understand politics in terms of issues and ideologies and use their votes to convey clear policy signals that then determine the course of public policy. 

Americans’ commitment to the folk theory of democracy may make them wish that elections worked that way. 

But in the case of Bernie Sanders, as so often, belief in the folk theory is an act of faith, not realism.