Do Presidents campaign as more extreme and then govern in the center...

[darklordoftech]

or do they campaign closer to the center and then govern more extreme?

[TML]

The last several presidents have campaigned on the extremes and then governed in the center, while the current one has stayed in the extreme both on the campaign trail and in office.

I do not want the next Democratic president to be in the "center" - either on the campaign trail or in office - if being in the "center" means espousing pro-corporate, pro-establishment, and/or pro-status quo policies.

[T'Chenka]

In Canada, this is what the Liberal Party does CONSTANTLY at both the federal and provincial level. It's like our version of the Clinton Biden Pelosi Democratic Party, and our Berniecrat types have their own seperate third party.

[SInNYC]

Campaigned more extreme: Obama, Bill Clinton, Reagan84

Not much difference: Bush, Reagan80

Governed more extreme: Trump, Dubya

I suspect Dukakis is the only D nominee since 2000 who would have governed more extreme, but only because his campaign was so milquetoast. So, it seems Ds campaign more extreme, while the picture is more mixed with Rs though they tend to govern more extreme.

[Goldwater]

Campaigned more extreme: Obama, Bill Clinton, Reagan84

Not much difference: Bush, Reagan80

Governed more extreme: Trump, Dubya

I suspect Dukakis is the only D nominee since 2000 who would have governed more extreme, but only because his campaign was so milquetoast. So, it seems Ds campaign more extreme, while the picture is more mixed with Rs though they tend to govern more extreme.

Trump's campaign was less extreme than his government? Did we watch both watch the same campaign?

[SInNYC]

Campaigned more extreme: Obama, Bill Clinton, Reagan84

Not much difference: Bush, Reagan80

Governed more extreme: Trump, Dubya

I suspect Dukakis is the only D nominee since 2000 who would have governed more extreme, but only because his campaign was so milquetoast. So, it seems Ds campaign more extreme, while the picture is more mixed with Rs though they tend to govern more extreme.

Trump's campaign was less extreme than his government? Did we watch both watch the same campaign?

I didnt say his campaign wasn't extreme and you have selective memory probably concentrating on immigration. The reason his governing is more extreme is that many voters didnt really believe he was that extreme on social issues (ie, supreme court) and some of his economic issues like infrastructure could have also been from the left, while his governing is basically to privatize the infrastructure. He also campaigned anti-war. And slogans like lock her up are infantile but not ideological.

[Goldwater]

Campaigned more extreme: Obama, Bill Clinton, Reagan84

Not much difference: Bush, Reagan80

Governed more extreme: Trump, Dubya

I suspect Dukakis is the only D nominee since 2000 who would have governed more extreme, but only because his campaign was so milquetoast. So, it seems Ds campaign more extreme, while the picture is more mixed with Rs though they tend to govern more extreme.

Trump's campaign was less extreme than his government? Did we watch both watch the same campaign?

I didnt say his campaign wasn't extreme and you have selective memory probably concentrating on immigration. The reason his governing is more extreme is that many voters didnt really believe he was that extreme on social issues (ie, supreme court) and some of his economic issues like infrastructure could have also been from the left, while his governing is basically to privatize the infrastructure. He also campaigned anti-war. And slogans like lock her up are infantile but not ideological.

Ah yes, the notoriously anti-war candidate Donald "take out their families" Trump.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

It's true that Candidate Trump was a cypher (or even presented himself as a relative wet) on a lot of "classic" social and economic issues that President Trump has turned out to be perfectly happy to (even if only for transactional reasons) deliver on for the hard right. However, the way he talked about immigration and race relations on the campaign trail was so far beyond anything we'd seen at a nationwide level for at least half a century, and so shocking at the time (even though we're used to it now), that saying that he campaigned as "less extreme" than he's been governing overall feels somehow emotionally or poetically untrue.

[McNukes™ #NYCMMWasAHero]

They usually run in the center and govern more extreme, with Trump being the exception. It almost never seems to go as planned. Saddam Hussein said that politics is saying one thing, intending to do another thing, and then doing something else.

Probably accurate.

[Xing]

Totally depends on what you mean by "extreme" and "the center." For example, Trump is certainly not governing anywhere near "the center", but if acting like a extremely conservative "generic" Republican is less extreme than being hostile to the Republican Party leadership in some people eyes, well bully for them, I guess. Though he's absolutely been just as extreme on immigration as before.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Campaigned More Extreme : Nixon , HW Bush , Obama , Trump

Not much difference: Clinton , Reagan


Governed More Extreme : Carter , Bush

[Orser67]

I would say:

Trump: Didn't change ideologically, but his greatest policy impact came from traditional Republican issues rather than the culture war issues he had emphasized
Obama: Pretty much governed as how he campaigned
Bush 2: Moved to the right after campaigning as a centrist in 2000
Clinton: Moved to the left after campaigning as a centrist in 1992, but then moved to the center after 1994
Bush: Probably the classic case of someone moving to the center after their campaign
Reagan: Pretty much governed as how he campaigned

[Nyvin]

Trump campaigned heavily on extreme social issues,  but his governing policy has been nothing but extreme fiscal conservatism (not the actual philosophical stuff....just the "giving money to rich people" kind)


In that sense he did flip.

[pbrower2a]

Like other demagogues, Trump was all over the political spectrum except the center... and as usual, he turned into a pure extremist.

[dw93]

Trump: It depends on the issue. On some issues he campaigned more extreme and on others he governed more extreme.

Obama: Not much difference, but governed a little more centrist than he campaigned.

Bush 43: Governed much more extreme than he campaigned. His government was not at all a "compassionate conservative" one, and this was true even before 9/11.

Clinton: I agree with Orser67, he campaigned moderately in 1992 only to govern more liberally in 1993 and 94, but went centrist, if not center right after 1994.

Bush 41: Governed slightly more moderate than his campaign. His campaign and his governing were the most similar of the modern Presidents.

Reagan: His Presidency, while extreme, was not nearly as extreme as his campaign

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Every President for a while has gone to the right in office. We need Bernie so that when he inevitably moves to the right and has to compromise with Republicans, at least he isn't completely right-wing.

[Fuzzy Bear]

American Presidents tend to govern in a manner that reflects the constituency that elected them.

This is a principle that proved the undoing of Jimmy Carter.  Carter campaigned as a moderate, but he was elected by a combination of the Democratic mainstream base at that time PLUS a personal base of moderate Southern Democrats who regularly voted for Democrats at all levels of government except for the Presidency, and who were clearly to the right of center, but who saw Carter, culturally, as one of them.

Trying to keep that part of his base in line resulted in Carter being primaried in 1980.  Having to make too many concessions to liberals over time caused Carter to be viewed by many of his white Southern 1976 supporters as no different than other liberal Democrats they hadn't been supporting.  Carter forged an electoral constituency in 1976 that voted for him for different reasons, and he was unable to placate both sides of his base.  This, of course, was made worse when the GOP nominated Reagan, who was a candidate his White Southern supporters in 1976 had some real enthusiasm for (including some who would continue to vote Democratic at local and state levels for years to come).