Talking Politics at Thanksgiving
You may have heard that old joke, "I saved a ton of money on Christmas gifts by discussing politics at Thanksgiving dinner."
Apparently, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain doesn't get the premise of this joke. Yesterday, Klain tweeted a list of "President Biden's Top Accomplishments for when Chatting with your Uncle at Thanksgiving."
Klain presented the list as talking points for when that Uncle "comes at you" about the president. In other words, here's some ammunition for the political debate you'll be having with a Republican family member…
As a Democrat, I was perplexed by this tweet, because it's divisive – and out of touch with countless articles in the news and social media this week offering strategies for avoiding political discussions today (along with a few articles that offer guidelines if you proceed anyway– see here for example).
Here are two of my own stats-oriented suggestions for avoiding uncomfortable political discussions this holiday.
1. Change the topic to something more fun. For example:
Which of the following is Americans' least-preferred food at Thanksgiving?
(a) tamales
(b) Jell-O
(c) brussels sprouts
(d) tofu
According to a YouGov survey, the answer is (d) tofu. I was surprised. Perhaps one reason tofu fared so badly is that respondents were presented with foods in pairs and asked to choose which one is better. With no other information about how it was seasoned or what it was mixed with, "tofu", all by itself, sounds pretty blah. (If you're a tofu-lover, you might be able to imagine other explanations for the results.) The rest of the data are shown in the YouGov table below:
2. If you can't get someone to stop talking politics, shift to a topic of unqualified common interest. Specifically, try voter turnout. In the 2022 mid-terms, an estimated 47% of eligible voters actually voted for the highest office on the ballot. This is the second-highest turnout on record, exceeded only in 2018 (49%). In other words, just over half of voters don't vote in the mid-terms. The percentages of no-shows aren't strongly or consistently linked to party affiliation. Meanwhile, many of the key races are determined by just a few percentage points or less.
You can see now that every news and social media piece claiming that the "people have spoken" this November is misleading. People who voted have spoken, obviously. But slightly more than half of those who could've voted didn't say a word. Thus, regardless of political affiliation, we can all agree that greater turnout is needed. We can agree on that regardless of whether we're thinking broadly about the need for civic engagement in a democratic society, or focusing more narrowly on helping our own side win.
So, if that "Uncle" insists on talking politics, encourage him to brainstorm with you on how to persuade more people to vote. (You can both check here for a list of thoughtful, nonpartisan recommendations.)
Thanks for reading – I'm grateful to each of you for your support, and I wish you a happy holiday!