Sure, the modern voter - independent of mind, unwilling to accept conventional wisdom, demanding clear results - is trickier to inspire, harder to coax than before.
Now comes a new study by a psychologist at the University of San Diego who confirms that being forced to overhear half a conversation distracts and annoys the unwilling eavesdropper, whose mind automatically tries to fill in the blanks in a way it wouldn't if both people were present.
With no alternative in mind, and unwilling or unable to rethink their basic assumptions, they are forced to defend a notion whose success they can no longer sincerely portray as plausible or even possible.
She cast herself as a kind of joyful martyr for show business, swallowed up by its monstrous demands but unwilling (and, to her mind, unable) to do anything else.
But there are still people who are unwilling to change their minds in the face of this data.
But in an indication of how uncertain their position remains, the five were unwilling to speak their minds in interviews.
We are held back in making climate change policy by people who are unwilling to change their minds in the face of new data.
He learned that a significant percentage of Montana men are mule-headed, unwilling to change their minds on issues, even when presented with information showing that their views are not supported by facts.
Joshua and Amanda sit on their couch for the fifth night in a row, bored out of their minds but unwilling to bundle up, venture into the winter night and try to find warmth elsewhere.
"It's almost as if they think horses need drugs to race, and they're unwilling to open their minds," said Sid Gustafson, a Montana veterinarian who has worked at Santa Anita and other California tracks.
