USSC Associate Professor Dr David Smith spoke to SBS News about the vitriol in US politics and how it compares to Australia.
“The Australian political system probably encourages better behaviour from MPs … because we have compulsory voting which requires every citizen to turn out. The effect is that elections are won and lost by the ability to appeal to all voters,” said Dr Smith.
“There’s also a sense in which politics is much lower stakes. People who vote for one party in Australia don’t see the other party as being out to destroy the country … and party loyalty is just not as strong among ordinary voters in Australia. So I think that’s why we don’t see this kind of vitriol.”
