As the November elections loom just six months away, I recently conducted a search for the past six months for a phrase often used: “Mushy Moderate Middle.”  This phrase is intended to encapsulate the segment of the electorate often described as “low-information voters,” those whose voting decisions are guided by factors starkly different from the ideological deliberations that influence committed liberals or conservatives.  Surprisingly, my search returned zero results.

This absence of recognition could suggest that my favored descriptor isn’t as widely accepted or clever as I presumed, or perhaps it points to a broader oversight within political discourse.

The “Mushy Moderate Middle” arguably represents a significant portion of the American electorate that doesn’t engage deeply with polarizing issues like how many transgenders can dance on the head of a pin, nor do they lose sleep over fiscal policies like capital gains taxes for businesses in American Samoa.

The interests of the Mushy Moderate Middle lean more toward everyday topics — sports, entertainment, family activities, and other casual conversations that might dominate water cooler discussions — rather than engaging in intense political debates that capture the attention of the most active 10% on the left and 10% on the right who find such dominant focus on “trivial” pursuits as unthinkable.

But it’s this vast middle ground that determines elections, since it constitutes up to 80% of voters, yet it is curiously neglected in most media narratives, which tend to focus disproportionately on the fringes of political discourse.  These dedicated issues-oriented believers act as the vocal bookends, holding the rest of the political spectrum in place, yet they are not representative of the majority.  The media’s obsession with these extremes overlooks the potential sway of the moderate majority, whose votes are up for grabs and whose preferences can be pivotal in a general election.

Almost inexplicably, politicians court the Mushy Moderate Middle by compromising their political positions to cater to this middle voting market...when there is no need to compromise!

That bears repeating.  Skillfully navigating the Mushy Moderate Middle is implementing a simple offensive to court these mainstream voters.  This involves basic relatability, plus not placating them by tossing them a bone of compromise as if they actually cared deeply about the same political issues that MAGA supporters espouse.  Simply being nice, and moderately persuasive, Trump or any politician  can “sell” the mushy middle on his positions.  Obama glided to victory by serving them a smile and some Kool-Aid, not a hard-sell Trumpian-style self-focused diatribe.

Barack Obama and Bill Clinton could step on shoes without hurting their shine.  But when Trump is in full swing, all he has to do is look at someone’s shoes, and the shine comes off as if battery acid had been poured on them!

One such example was in the 2020 presidential debates.  When Biden was losing at every turn, Trump hogged the time past the bell, insisting on injecting more vitriol against Biden, in essence snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.  Trump won the crowd, then lost the crowd, becoming his worst enemy by coming across like a bully and shifting sympathy to Biden in the eyes of low-information voters, who judge candidates on how they treat others and how nice they come across since they often barely know the issues.

Trump’s caustic style makes Biden look like a likable underdog.  Is Biden destroying America?  Yes.  But he’s doing it while appearing to be a somewhat clueless but “nice” guy.  Trump is trying to save our Republic, but his style is screaming so loudly that the Mushy Middle can hardly hear a word he’s saying.

Historically, media figures like Rush Limbaugh and now Joe Rogan have demonstrated the power of appealing to different segments of the middle American masses.  Limbaugh catered to the middle, the right-of-center crowd, and the hard right, while Rogan attracts a diverse audience from left, right, and center.  He’s a populist.  Mushy moderates love populists.  And to properly navigate the middle, a politician needs to pick some key populist issues that don’t require compromising his values.

What most people don’t know is that Rush Limbaugh had only 15 million weekly listeners.  The congenial, self-deprecating Joe Rogan has more like 50 million.  Yet how many hard-right politicians do you see featured on Rogan?  They apparently haven’t received the memo that Joe Rogan has triple the audience of the old Rush Limbaugh show and six times the audience size of Rush’s current replacement duo who moved in to his old timeslot.

An appearance on Joe Rogan’s show would humanize Trump, showcasing a side that discusses Donald’s non-political interests in such things as sports, entertainment, and basic water cooler topics.  Such an approach could help soften his image and appeal to the moderate voters who are turned off by overt arrogance and endless braggadocio and self-promotion.

If Trump doesn’t reinvent himself to appeal to the emotions of the Mushy Moderate Middle, Joe Biden can sail to victory, presenting an image of a congenial, somewhat unremarkable “nice old guy” in contrast to “mean man” Trump.  

The ultimate battle for the hearts and minds of the Mushy Moderate Middle will not be won through character assassination and self-righteousness, but rather by love, showing genuine concern for people while continuing with principled conservative policies that can rescue our Republic, and not compromising one iota on the issues.  It will require self-control and a genuine effort to connect with the everyday concerns and sensibilities of ordinary Americans.

Jerry McGlothlin is co-chairman of Restoring Justice U.S. and the CEO of Special Guests, a publicity agency founded in 1986.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.