Centrism

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These days, it seems people are becoming increasingly drawn to people further to the right or left, and are fixated on ideological purity.

It leads me to this question: what chances do moderates/centrists have in the U.S.’s political future?

Could Susan Collins or Joe Manchin get elected in the established red and blue states, or only in the swing states?

They absolutely could. The question is; should they?

Centrists are often fairly reasonable but can come across as trying to play for both sides, which leads to fiscally conservative liberals or socially minded conservatives. As a result, it can be a bit like undoing what they've done as they fight to be two things at once. This seems fine, it's certainly going to lead to a safe four years, but very little will actually change. This is why you need people with stronger positions.

As a side note, I found Obama to be surprisingly conservative, as was HRC. I think America just generally needs a political overhaul, and young blood like Ocasio Cortez.

Centrism is bound to be unpopular when it's message is interpreted as "things are just great the way they are"... i.e. lets just preserve the status quo. It seems most people aren't happy with things and want some kind of change.

A centrist could be anything. It's like the term right-wing. It could mean anything.

What do you mean by centrism? At first, I was assuming you were talking about their political philosophy; but, then I read the posts on this thread so far, and now I'm uncertain as to whether you mean being in the middle of the generic partisan/movement platforms or being a compromiser of some sort or, based on what NoClearMind said, someone with conservative policies (not as in conservative parties, e.g. republican, but as in, someone who wants to keep everything as is in the moment, and not like conservative parties of which want to go in a more pragmatic direction with policy).

Regardless of what I wrote above, I think either of those two could, in theory, win. Only a handful expected President Trump to win in the 2016 election, so who knows. That shows anyone could win (to an extent of course).

Well...does America need MORE polarization?

Probably not.

So why not support centrists?