teeter and totter
minor changes in middle,
extreme on the ends
In his law of thirds, John Adams wrote about the American people and their views on the almost war with France at the turn of the 19th Century, “I should say that full one third were averse to the revolution. An opposite third gave themselves up to an enthusiastic gratitude to France. The middle third, always averse to war, were rather lukewarm both to England and France.”
One third of Americans liked one side enthusiastically.
One third of Americans liked the other side enthusiastically.
One third of Americans were lukewarm and in an election would have stayed home.
Leaving the country evenly split between those who voted.
This was in 1815.