Whether you’re celebrating this week's midterm elections or sniffling into your morning coffee, I have some good news.
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I → celebrate → news
And no, it has nothing to do with which party won.
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party → have → nothing
For years, we’ve been told that America is hopelessly divided. That our politics are tribal.
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politics → tell → years
That our opinions are fixed, our loyalties inherited, and our minds about as open as a bank on Christmas.
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minds → fix → Christmas
Democrats vote for Democrats.
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Democrats → vote → Democrats
Republicans vote for Republicans.
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Republicans → vote → Republicans
Independents insist they’re independent while somehow managing to vote for the same party every November.
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they → insist → party
Why bother making an argument when everyone has already made up their mind?
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everyone → bother → mind
And that may be the most encouraging thing to come out of this election.
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that → come → election
I’m a researcher and strategist.
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I → ’m → ?
I spend my life studying what people believe, why they believe it, and what, if anything, might change their minds.
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what → spend → minds
I even wrote a book called" Persuasion," which lately has been beginning to sound like a work of historical fiction.
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which → write → fiction
But I’ll admit something.
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I → admit → something
Watching our politics harden over the past decade, even I began to wonder just how persuadable America really was.
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America → watch → decade
We seemed to have reached a point where facts were filtered through party affiliation, arguments were judged by who made them, and changing your mind was treated less like intellectual growth and more like treason.
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changing → seem → treason
In the 2026 midterm elections, voters just did something wonderfully inconvenient.
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voters → do → something
They reminded us that they are human beings, not permanent members of political teams.
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they → remind → teams
We’ve stopped debating and started diagnosing.
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We → stop → ?
Anyone who disagrees with us must be stupid, evil, brainwashed, or watching the wrong cable news channel.
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who → disagree → channel
Then voters did something wonderfully inconvenient.
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voters → do → something
They reminded us that they are human beings, not permanent members of political teams.
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they → remind → teams
But each offers a reason to question the assumption that political identity is destiny.
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identity → offer → assumption
Candidates can still reach people who weren’t necessarily inclined to listen.
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who → reach → people
An argument can still break through.
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argument → break → ?
A message that speaks to something voters genuinely care about can still make them reconsider what they thought they knew.
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they → speak → what
Of course, an election result alone doesn’t tell us precisely how many voters changed their minds and how many different voters simply showed up.
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voters → tell → minds
As a researcher, I feel compelled to point that out, even at the risk of ruining a perfectly good argument.
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I → feel → argument
But the larger lesson remains.
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lesson → remain → ?
That’s not a flaw in democracy.
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That → ’ → democracy
That’s democracy working.
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democracy → ’ → ?
We’ve spent so much time talking about polarization that we’ve started treating it as a permanent condition.
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we → spend → condition
As though Americans arrived at the voting booth with their opinions tattooed on their foreheads.
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opinions → arrive → foreheads
They can hold two seemingly contradictory ideas at once.
Imagine that.
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They → hold → that
And most importantly, they can change their minds.
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they → change → minds
Not necessarily because someone shouted louder. Not because a campaign spent another $50 million telling them the other guy was terrible. And certainly not because a celebrity told them what to think.
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celebrity → shout → what
But because someone made an argument that connected with their lives.
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that → make → lives
That is what persuasion actually is.
Whether your candidates won or lost, whether you’re popping champagne or reaching for the tissues, take a little comfort in this: America isn’t as stuck as we thought.
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we → win → this
It’s not tricking people.
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It → trick → people
It’s not manipulating them.
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It → manipulate → them
It’s not finding the magic words that make people abandon their values.
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people → find → values
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
