The Boring Governors Are Winning
Matthew Yglesias listed seven things he thinks Americans get wrong about politics. The most useful one may be about who actually wins.
The Overview
The facts, straight
Start with the numbers. In Morning Consult's February 2026 governor rankings, the most popular governor in America was a Republican in Vermont. Phil Scott posted 74% approval, according to Morning Consult's tracker. The top Democrat was Andy Beshear, in Kentucky, at 65%, Spectrum News reported.
Each governs a state that votes the other way for president. Matthew Yglesias thinks that is the most overlooked fact in American politics.
On Thursday he posted a list of "seven widespread misunderstandings about politics" on X. It has been shared widely since. Among his points: the public's angry mood "is not a demand for large policy changes," and "the biggest electoral overperformers are wrong-party governors like Andy Beshear and Phil Scott who don't do very much." He also wrote that "increasing political polarization reflects deliberate choices made by highly engaged elite actors and is not an emergent property of the mass public."
Yglesias writes from the center-left, and his list pokes both parties.
What the Left Says
The progressive and Democratic case
Progressives push back hardest on his first point. Yglesias wrote that Democratic officials, staffers and donors "are on average very progressive compared not only to the median voter but to most of the rank and file people who vote for Democrats." Many on the left argue the opposite problem: that voters are angry because neither party delivers big change on wages, housing or health costs.
Yglesias himself made a version of that complaint in a New York Times column published Friday. Affordability dominates the midterms, he wrote, "Yet somehow, after years of voters saying as loudly and clearly as possible that they want decisive government action on the cost of living, nobody is actually doing much about it."
Some on the left also bristle at the "boring" model. A governor facing a hostile legislature, they say, may be popular precisely because he cannot do much, and that does not help someone who needs Medicaid or child care now.
Where Reality Likely Sits
Radio Purple's analysis
Strip the list down and it is an argument about incentives. Yglesias's sixth point says the qualities that win primaries and raise money "are unrelated to (and in some ways antithetical to)" the qualities that win general elections. His fifth says progress on any issue depends more on "how much you're willing to drop or compromise" on others than on how loudly you care.
Both parties can test that against their own record. Beshear and Scott are not famous for big speeches. In a Slow Boring essay, Yglesias described a roster of "extremely low-key and even a bit dull" governors in both parties, and argued that if being boring hurts in primaries, "that seems like a really damning indictment of the process."
For readers, the takeaway is practical. Primary voters choose the menu. When turnout is low, the most engaged and most partisan voters decide who reaches November. If the boring governors are winning general elections, more ordinary voters may want to show up earlier in the year.
None of this settles whether the anger is a demand for big change. It does suggest that voters punish drama they did not ask for and reward people who make the trains run. That is a lesson neither party seems eager to learn.
What the Right Says
The conservative and Republican case
Conservatives find plenty to like and one point to resist. His fourth item says Trump's behavior is "very extreme" but his platform differs from Mitt Romney's 2012 platform mainly in being "more moderate on social security, Medicare, gay rights, and abortion." Many Trump supporters would say that is exactly why he won: he moved the party toward working voters.
The elite-polarization point also fits a familiar argument on the right, that activists, donors and national media pull both parties away from ordinary voters. And Scott's long run in Vermont shows a Republican can win almost anywhere by staying local and practical.
Where the right is likely to resist is the word "extreme." Supporters see a president keeping campaign promises, not breaking norms for sport.
Sources & Citations
- X (@mattyglesias), “Seven widespread misunderstandings about politics”, October 15, 2026.
- Slow Boring, “Politics should be more boring”, October 16, 2026.
- Burlington Free Press, “Vermont Gov. Phil Scott is most popular in America: See poll”, February 6, 2026.
- The New York Times, “Why Is No One Doing Anything About Affordability?”, October 16, 2026.
Positions above are attributed to the public statements and published reporting cited here. Quotations are taken from these sources; Radio Purple does not publish unattributed or invented quotes. See an error? Request a correction.
