If the poll is to be believed, it turns out that one of the three little-known candidates not only has a huge lead over the other two, but also is apparently widely beloved by the 730,000 highly-educated folks who make up the 7th Congressional District.
That candidate’s name is … Joe McDermott. Not Jim, Joe. Somehow, King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, who represents West Seattle and last defeated an opponent named Goodspaceguy, is well-known to 68 percent of a district. He also somehow has a 4 to 1 polling lead over his next-closest challenger, state Sen. Pramila Jayapal.
The campaign trumpeted this news, insisting it had nothing to do with a certain superficial similarity with the 14-term incumbent.
Wrote the pollster, EMC Research: “Survey respondents were also asked about incumbent Congressman Jim McDermott, so it is not the case that Joe McDermott’s name ID is because people think he is Jim.”
Right. The same day I was sent this poll, I was also sent a new book called “Democracy for Realists,” by two political science professors. This book seeks to upend generations of scholarship about the enduring strength of American democracy, basically by arguing that the voters are nitwits.
OK, that’s not how they say it. But Larry Bartels and Christopher Achen do put together a damning case that much of the weakness at the core of our people-powered politics stems from the people.
It isn’t that we voters are dim necessarily, but broadly we don’t invest the time or energy to make informed policy decisions (or perhaps even learn the candidates’ names). Instead, we vote based mostly on social tribalism or “loyalties typically acquired in childhood.” So, tight elections often swing not on vital issues but trivial variables, including, believe it or not, the weather.
Which brings us to Boaty McBoatface. That’s the now legendary name the public overwhelmingly chose to christen a new British research vessel. But British elites said they would likely replace the peoples’ choice with a name that “more reflects the serious nature of the science it (the boat) will be doing.”
There it is: the power and peril of democracy, all tied into one satirical package. The people spoke, but what they said was infantile. So the parents ignored the children. Which is probably what the children expected, which may be why they didn’t take the task seriously in the first place.
It all could be a case study for the subtitle of the book: “Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government.”
The book offers no solutions. Its aim is to discredit the simplistic “of the people, by the people” myth we tell ourselves about our democracy. It’s not only wrong to suppose that elections control public policy, but it could also be a mistake to assume that the cure for the ills of democracy is simply more democracy.
Beyond that, the implications of all this for Seattle are clear: Goodspaceguy needs to change his name to McDermotty McDermottface.
Danny Westneat is a columnist for the Seattle Times.
