Quote:
Originally posted by Strange Famous
The strange thing is, the Democrat and Republican parties are so close on nearly all matters of policy, there is no fundamental ideological difference between them. Perhaps this is why American politics is so full of smear tactics, because the only thing that can differentiate the Democrat and Republican candidate is personality?
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There are serious ideological differences within the parties. Abortion, social & environmental programs/initiatives, free market vs government control, etc.
The reason the smear tactics are so prevalent is the apathy of voters and the need to really fire someone up to get them off their asses to go to the polls and/or to shift their support from one candidate to another.
There aren't that many issues that an individual voter really cares about and many opinions on which party is best for these issues are pretty well set in stone. This drives both sides to find more personal issues to shift support.