We don’t like to admit it, but humans are complex creatures.

More often than not, we have mixed motivations.

In an episode of the iconic sitcom, “Friends,” Phoebe tries in vain to prove to Joey that there is such a thing as a selfless good deed.

Phoebe goes as far as to “let” a bee sting her, to which Joey responds, “You know the bee probably died after he stung you?”

For Joey, doing a good thing for someone else makes you feel good, so, therefore, it is, at its core, selfish.

Mixed motivations.

Mixed Motivations in the Voting Booth

I was thinking about this as it relates to our current political climate.

According to the AP, “3 in 10 voters in Arizona, Missouri, and Nevada who supported the abortion rights measures also voted for Trump.” (NPR)

Most of us consider support for Donald Trump and support for abortion rights to be diametrically opposing positions. Yet, 30% of abortion rights supporters pulled the lever for Donald Trump.

Why?

Mixed motivations.

While many die-hard never-Trumpers are mind-blown that people who support abortion rights also support Trump, many MAGA folks can’t wrap their heads around why hundreds of lifelong conservative Republican officials would vocally support Kamala Harris, a so-called “Marxist” (their words)

It’s a good reminder that, even though someone we know voted for the other candidate, it doesn’t mean they 100% align with that candidate.

Sure, some people do, of course. However, many don’t.

For those of us who can’t fathom support for Donald Trump and truly believe he’s a threat to democracy, the election outcome was disappointing, to put it mildly.

It’s easy to have a knee-jerk reaction and condemn anyone we know who voted for Trump. I’ve already seen people online talk about how they’re cutting off family and friends for doing so.

The same reactions are happening in the other direction as well.

Our Motivations Betray Our Desire for Simple Answers

While our motivations are complex, our brains like simple answers.

So, we create simple equations like…

Voted For Trump = Evil
Voted For Harris = Marxist

Neither are entirely accurate depictions of either set of voters.

Many in the political class made the same mistake on voting blocks.

Black = Democrat
Latino = Democrat

Those norms revealed a hole in their armor this cycle.

If we’re going to make any progress in this country, we have to stop viewing each other as 2-dimensional beings and start looking at each other as fully human and people with complex emotions and motivations.

Someone may be fully behind abortion rights but also struggling to feed their family, and a more painful and more immediate motivation has to win out.

Another person might be for limited government and staunchly pro-life, but terrified democracy will end under the other candidate. The more powerful and imminently painful problem is more motivating.

Resist the urge to turn complex human beings into 2-dimensional caricatures in your mind.

When we resist the urge to fit people into cookie-cutter personas, it’s easier to have honest conversations and more likely that someone (might even be you) will change their thinking on some issues.