That's the nature of politics in this country, sadly. People are going to be stuffheads and blow things out of proportion. What makes me even more upset is that other parties get very little recognition in debates, which is really annoying because that's the only exposure a lot of voters get to the views and speaking ability of the candidates. It's sad but true that there are A LOT of people in this country that go out to vote with very little actual information.
I haven't voted in a presidential election yet, but I have for local elections. And here's what I think we should do to make it better.
I vote by mail, and my county includes a Voter Information booklet. For laws, it gives an executive summary, and then it's supporters get to write their own supportive essay for it. Then an opposing party gets to write their own page giving reasons NOT to vote for it. Then each party gets to write a short rebuttal to each of those pages, giving voters tons of information towards making an educated decision.
For local and state candidates, the Voter Information booklet lets them write a paragraph summing up their policies and why you should vote for them. This in itself is immensely handy, because it points out who's dog-whistling and who's actually running honestly. For example, one candidate wrote something along the lines of "I stand with freedom. I'm pro-god, pro-gun, pro-life, and pro-family." Some might not recognize those as dog whistles for theocracy, anti-abortion, and anti-gay. But when other candidates elaborated on their policies, it gives people a much clearer look and honesty very often Annoying Oranges rhetoric.
I'm not sure if Presidential Elections do this; like I said I haven't voted. But a packet like what my county gave me would immensely help people make educated decisions.
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