Two caricatured
extreme positions of political strategy, held by no - one, are these: a) that voter preferences are entirely fixed, and that the art of political campaigning is to choose where within the spectrum of fixed voter
opinions to place oneself to provide the best chance of victory whilst achieving the maximum of one's desired programme; b) that voters can be persuaded of anything if one has truth
on one's
side and argues for it with sufficient conviction.