Reducing Cognitive Dissonance

The Associated Press reports the results of Edison Research exit polling of voters in Tuesday's election. The AP's conclusion: Democrats and Republicans "seem to be living in different countries." Let me share with you several of the more pronounced differences in opinion.

-Fifty-four percent of those who voted for Democrats said the country is headed in the right direction, while 88 percent of Republican voters think it's on the wrong track.

-Sixty-four percent of Republican voters, but only 30 percent of Democratic voters, think life for the next generation of Americans will be worse than life today.

-On climate change, 86 percent of those who backed Democrats called it a serious problem; two-thirds of Republican voters said it's not a serious issue.

-Seventy percent of Republican voters are married, compared with 55 percent of Democratic ones.

-Women outnumbered men among the Democratic electorate, but among Republican voters the proportions were reversed. Nearly half of Republican voters, but only about one-quarter of Democratic ones, were white men.

Do you have the same hunch I have? That Democrat voters felt they had to justify voting the way they did and put a positive spin on their world view to reduce cognitive dissonance? That feels right to me.