Political heterodoxy is rare, but the brand is extremely popular

Decades of polling are at odds with how we talk about heterodoxy in the media.

Listen to political discourse about partisanship and heterodoxy and you’ll inevitably encounter a few recurring ideas. Partisanship, we are told, is increasingly popular, while heterodoxy is increasingly reviled. Partisans tend to march in lockstep with their party and independents do not. And of course, the premise underlying all of this: that when we …