The Problem With the Political Bubble

We all live in social bubbles of our own creation. For example, there are some really intense baseball fans who talk on and on about advanced metrics like WAR, FIP, wRC+ and more. Some are Yankee fans, but when they go to Yankee Stadium they are in a distinct minority. Hardly anybody else knows what they are talking about.
 
Some in the ballpark follow the team regularly but with less intensity. Others might be there for the merch, to hang out with friends, or some other reason. All Yankee fans, of course, root for the Yankees to beat the evil Red Sox. However, those in the intense fan bubble are devastated when the bad guys win.  Most others, while disappointed, had a good time singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game or having a beer at the ballpark.
 
The same dynamic applies to people who live in the political bubble—the ten percenters in our 10-10-80 nation. Like those who obsess over advanced metrics in baseball, the ten percenters have developed a language of their own and are devastated when their team loses even the most trivial political battle.
 
Some ten percenters are Democrats and some are Republicans, but they have little in common with Democrats and Republicans outside the political bubble. To most ten percenters, terms like the SAVE Act or Green New Deal have specific meanings and provoke a strong emotional resonance.
 
Outside of the political bubble, however, those terms are generally no more meaningful than advanced baseball metrics to fans who are at the game for the merch. I wrote about this language barrier last week in my column about the supposed rise in support for Socialism. Because they don’t understand the language of everyday Americans, the ten percenters hallucinate about what is going on the country.
 
The word “socialism” is far from the only example of how our political class and America are two nations separated by a common language. Only 23% of voters know what the SAVE Act is and just 28% know what the Green New Deal is. The numbers are even lower for awareness of terms like Citizens United, CRT, and ESG.
 
We’re seeing this disconnect play out in Utah Senator Mike Lee’s crusade to pass the SAVE Act. His first messaging challenge is that most voters don’t know what he’s talking about.  But that’s not his only obstacle. To accomplish his goal, Senator Lee wants voters to put pressure on Senate Majority leader John Thune to change the filibuster. That’s an enormous challenge in a world where half of all voters don’t know who John Thune is and only 37% have even a rough idea of what the filibuster is. It’s hard to rally support for an unknown bill by pressuring a little-known politician to change an obscure political procedure.
 
When confronted with this reality, most politically obsessed voters express disgust with the 80 percenters. Why aren’t they paying attention to things we believe are important? Why don’t they spend as much time studying the issues as we do? Making matters worse, ten percenters on both the left and right convince themselves that the 80 percenters would be on their side if only they paid more attention.
 
This arrogant attitude gives the ten percenters a sense of superiority over the vast majority of voters who recognize that there is more to life than politics. But the politically obsessed have it backwards. It is they who need to learn from the 80 percenters.
 
Whenever there is a problem in communicating, the fault is with the person communicating rather than with the audience. Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan were great communicators not because they forced everyone to see things their way but because they gave voice to what the vast majority of voters experienced. They communicated with voters in a language that voters could understand.
 
This reality can be seen in contemporary issues where voters do understand what the ten percenters are talking about. Two-thirds of voters (66%) understand what tariffs are and it is hurting Republicans in the 2026 cycle. On this topic, voters overwhelmingly believe the president should not have the authority to impose tariffs on his own. At a time when inflation is a top issue, six-out-of-ten (59%) believe tariffs are causing prices on consumer goods to go up.
 
On the other side of the coin, 75% of voters know what transgender means and that issue is hurting Democrats. That’s largely because just 18% of voters believe biological males should be allowed to compete in women’s sports. In 2024, it is likely this issue pushed Senator David McCormick over the top in a race he won by 15,000 votes out of seven million ballots cast.
 
When candidates or political activists speak in terms that voters understand, they can win hearts and minds. When they speak in the language of the politically obsessed, normal voters tune them out.
 
Beyond the practical value of speaking in a language that voters understand, there is another reason that political activists should listen to and learn from everyday Americans. As I wrote in a recent column. the 80 percenters instinctively understand something that the ten percenters forget or ignore: “our founding ideals of freedom, equality, and self-governance gave government a role to play in society, but not the lead role. In America, positive change almost always begins far from the halls of political power. Politicians make the headlines and the history books, but innovators and entrepreneurs shape society and move the nation forward.”
 
It is people outside the political bubble who are creating a better world for our children and grandchildren. The ten percenters have a role to play, but it is not the lead role. The role for those in the political world primarily involves protecting the founding ideals that made America an innovation nation.