In the Year of Character, Issues Still Matter

Issues in a presidential-election year are often like the fat books that we’re glad to own but don’t plan to read. Voters say they crave substance, a campaign focused less on the cartoon-character smackdown and more on the small-print spreadsheets of serious policy positions. Candidates offer “platforms,” a metaphor reinforcing the myth that their proposals are the structural foundation on which their presidency will be built. And most voters say that policy matters more than personality when they cast their ballots.

But watch what we do, not what we say. The least substantive campaign in modern history has drawn the most massive audience. A Pew survey in July found that more than three-quarters of voters found the race interesting, the highest level in two decades, even as 65% said it has not focused on policy debates. It’s not that issues no longer matter, just that the drama of this campaign has been so much more memorable than the ideas.

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