June 26, 2018
It is absolutely bizarre that reporters so often feel the need to tell us what really “concerns” politicians, or what they “believe,” or in other ways make assertions about their innermost thoughts. The reality is that these reporters almost certainly do not know the person’s innermost thoughts, and in the unlikely event they do, they are probably too close to that person to be reporting on them.
While exercises in mind reading are especially inappropriate with regards to politicians, since their job pretty much demands that they claim positions that they do not hold, they also amount to bad reporting in other contexts. A couple of days ago the NYT ran a piece pointing out the seeming discrepancy between the celebration of the family in public statements while at the same time having the most family unfriendly policies of any rich country.
At one point the piece told readers:
“To the right, it seems government too often burdens families, who need lower taxes and less regulation.”
We know people on the right often say this, but is it really the case that it seems to these people that their taxes are too high and they face too much regulation. Imagine a male worker in a non-union auto factory earning $20 an hour. Suppose this person is married to someone working part-time in a retail store. We’ll give them an income near the median at $52,000 a year.
Assuming no dependents and no unusual deductible expenses, their federal income tax burden would roughly $1,100 a year or just over 2 percent of their income. Is it likely that they really think it is important that the government lowers their taxes? (They do pay considerably more in Social Security and Medicare taxes, but people on the right overwhelmingly support these programs.)
How about government regulation? Well, government regulation does prevent people from dumping sewage on their lawn, perhaps this rule upsets them, but that seems unlikely. Government regulation also means that they get paid time-and-a-half if they work more than forty hours a week, but it also seems unlikely this would upset this right-wing couple too much.
The reality is that these people probably do not often come across a government regulation that substantially impairs their quality of life or economic well-being, just as they are not especially hurt by their tax burden. On the other hand, these are standard themes among right-wing politicians.
Recent research shows that conservatives tend to identify with right-wing ideology even when they disagree with the conservative stance on specific issues. This could mean, for example, the most conservatives would actually support most government spending and the taxes needed to pay for it, even if they say they want lower taxes. They may also support most actual regulations, even if they say there are too many regulations.
The point here is that it is good journalistic practice to avoid reading people’s minds. That is especially true for politicians, but it should also apply as a more general rule. Tell us what people say and do, don’t tell us what people think. You don’t know.
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