Voters are that stupid

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

During the Republican presidential primaries, an aide to Mitt Romney said that the candidate's then extreme right-wing positions would not be a problem.

For the general election, when it would be advantageous for the candidate to move to the center to attract moderate voters, top Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said: "You hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch a Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again," erasing old positions and creating a new and improved moderate candidate.

No way, I said. People will remember the boastful, "severely conservative" Mitt. They won't fall for it; people are not that stupid.

I stand corrected.

Susan Christensen

Salt Lake City