[user104658]

Originally Posted by The Slim Reaper

Thanks for continuing the discussion and thank you for providing more info about where you stand economically.

How common is politically aware, nuanced centrism?

I do agree with pretty much all of the above whole post, my only issue really, is that in answer to this part quoted... obviously it's not common at all, but I don't think it's any less common than politically aware and nuanced stances on the left or right. Call me a cynic but the number of people who can hold a conversation about politics with any real understanding of the issues (or the history) is ... a small percentage, no matter where you grab them on the spectrum. And that's even thinking about the people who are politically empassioned - will show up at events, will stand in the streets, will shout, genuinely believe in their politics - most still can't fully explain those politics, beyond that they sound morally correct to them (at best), or that the people they align with are espousing those politics (at worst, and worryingly, these days as standard). Maybe typically centrist but I do think it's a universal issue. Grab a 20 year old "woke lefty" at an event, grab a beer bellied red-hat-wearing free-market MAGA bloke at another on the same day, isolate them and try to have a chat about Locke or Marx, 9.5 times out of 10 you're not going to get a conversation at all. Blank stares all round.

So I still stand by that I don't think the center influences election outcomes... political unawareness / "mob rule" decides it and it's not always about swaying the center ground over the line. People voicing politically extreme views - that are borrowed - will swing wildly from positions way left and right of center, based on the way the wind is blowing that year, and which campaign has taken off. Elections simply aren't won by politics or policy any more, it's ALL oratory and showmanship that tilts the scales.