In many cases the American peoples beliefs do not match how they vote.

[fightforfreedom]

It is one of the reasons why our country is so screwed up.

The majority of people want back ground checks for guns, then they vote for people who don't.

The majority want assault rifles banned, then they vote for people who want to arm every American with an assault rifle , including the mentally ill.

The majority want abortion to remain legal, then they vote for people who want to completely ban abortion, including people who were raped.

The problem with America is the people, who have become hypocrites, self- destructive ignorant assholes and world class fools.

[Claustrum]

1. It's because not all issues are weighted equally when you vote.

Americans are known to vote for their "pocket book issues" way more than any other issues. And somehow, republicans claimed to be better for the economy so that issue supersede all other issues even if they don't exactly aligns with the republicans on most other issues.

I keep hearing that American public are more progressive leaning on individual issues but they vote for republicans when midterm and general comes by.

[Ninga]

2. Absolutely f**ing spot on! The angry people vote. The

GOP is in office because they know how to make people mad.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

3. Voters have different priorities and rank each issue differently

Apparently, gun control is not a high priority for a lot of voters. They may support it, but not enough to change their vote to someone else if they don't also align with them on other issues. The exception to this are single issue voters of course, but unfortunately, single issue gun rights voters seem to vastly outnumber single issue gun control voters.

[fightforfreedom]

4. You make a good point, but it doesn't explain things like this.

Why do many union workers vote for people who want to destroy their union and their livelihoods. You would think that would be a high priority, it's not. It does not make sense. It's self destructive.

[rownesheck]

5. Most people I come in contact with

are fucking stupid beyond belief. So, this doesn't surprise me.

[moondust]

6. Modern life

can be confusing. IMO many people don't seem to handle all the aggressive advertising and distractions very well perhaps contributing to short attention spans, situational unawareness, and lack of critical thinking.

Alvin Toffler wrote Future Shock in 1970 describing what he called "information overload." If there was too much information overloading people's brains in 1970--without cable TV, computers, internet, or smartphones--I don't know what it would even be called today.

[Demsrule86]

7. They have to be a voting issue not everything is a voting issue...

And people are very tribal on the right; they vote for their party no matter what. We need to do that.