in Downs’s modeling, the median convergence prediction only holds with a long list of unrealistic assumptions about how parties operate, what motivates politicians, how voters process political information, and specific electoral rules and conditions.59 Among other easily disproven assumptions, the prediction relies on voters who (1) care about policy more than they care about partisan loyalty, (2) care more about policy than they do about the charisma and charm of candidates, (3) have clear and stable policy preferences, and (4) have one-dimensional preferences that cluster in the middle of a
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