Hateful political rhetoric has become commonplace in the 2024 presidential campaign and much of it is directed at migrants coming over the southern U.S. border — UW-Madison political science researcher and author Nathan Kalmoe said that kind of rhetoric can tip into violence. Young people are a perennial focus of political campaigns even as voters over the age of 50 reliably turn out — Jim Flaherty of AARP Wisconsin described the organization’s recent polling of this largest voting bloc in the state.
 

Nathan Kalmoe
Researcher, UW-Madison School of Journalism

• The executive administrative director of the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Center for Journalism & Civic Renewal, Kalmoe is author of Radical American Partisanship: Mapping Violent Hostility, Its Causes and the Consequences for Democracy. In this book, Kalmoe discussed what he calls moral disengagement, marked by “vilifying outgroups, hyping the morality of in groups, minimizing harms and righteous ends that justify aggressive means.” He says that’s what is happening in the U.S. as former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants escalates on the 2024 campaign trail.
• Kalmoe: “The language that we’re hearing that’s targeting migrants is dehumanizing. Dehumanization is a form of moral disengagement. And what’s dangerous about dehumanizing rhetoric is that it creates excuses for people to harm groups that they dislike. And so we see this historically. We see this cross-nationally that marginalized groups, when they’re targeted with dehumanizing language, are more subject to various kinds of harms, including violence against the community.”

Jim Flaherty
Communications director, AARP Wisconsin

• If the question of whether young voters will make their way to the polls has candidates paying attention, AARP Wisconsin says they should pay special attention to older voters. Flaherty expounded on the group’s Sept. 18 poll results that showed extremely high enthusiasm to vote in 2024 by its respondents.
• Flaherty: “Those age 50 and over are the most motivated demographic of any voters. In Wisconsin, more than nine out of 10 voters over age 50 who were polled said that they are extremely motivated to vote in this election, which should be a wakeup call for candidates to say, ‘Hey you’ve got to start listening to what these 50-plus voters are saying.'”

Watch new episodes of Here & Now at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays.