Opinion: Lee Carter Says the Biggest Winner of the Election Is Persuasion, Because Voters Proved They Are Not Locked Into Teams

This is an opinion column. The views are Lee Carter's, a researcher and strategist who wrote a book called "Persuasion," not ours.

His claim. Carter writes that the best news from the election has nothing to do with which party won: "persuasion still works." He says that for years Americans were told the country was hopelessly divided, that loyalties were inherited and minds were closed. Then, he writes, voters "reminded us that they are human beings, not permanent members of political teams."

His evidence. He points to three states: "Look at Michigan. Look at Texas. Look at Kansas." He says they are different states with different traditions and electorates, but each gives a reason to question the idea that political identity is destiny. He argues that a message that speaks to something voters care about can still make them reconsider.

His own caution. Carter admits that an election result alone does not tell us how many voters changed their minds and how many different voters simply showed up. He says he must point that out as a researcher, "even at the risk of ruining a perfectly good argument." The larger lesson, in his view, still stands: "Political coalitions are not permanent. And voters are not property."

What he says voters are like. They can be "conservative about spending and liberal about health care," frustrated with immigration and worried about government overreach, loyal to a president and disappointed in his party. Persuasion, he writes, is not trickery. It is "finding the truth in your argument that connects with the truth in someone else's life."

His ending. He says the Founders built a country where disagreement could be argued and settled by the people, and that if voters can be persuaded, politicians have a reason to listen. He closes: "I really wasn't looking forward to writing the sequel, 'Nobody's Listening.'"

Context. The column arrives as other Fox opinion pieces, which we have covered, press Republicans on candidate quality and prices. We covered his earlier column on turnout, from Oct. 28.

What we could not check. Carter offers no vote totals, polling or switcher data in the text we read. His claim that Michigan, Texas and Kansas show persuasion is an interpretation. The same results could come from turnout, which he says he cannot rule out.