Fat and happy…
Citing recent data from Middle Tennessee State University, The Votemaster, and the Cato Institute, Taegan Goddard asks: Are Voters stupid?
According to Cato:
Decades of research show that most citizens know very little about politics and public policy. Ignorance goes beyond a lack of awareness of specific issues. Even more alarming is that most people lack basic knowledge about political leaders and the structure of government.
It is tempting to conclude that voters must be lazy or stupid. But even a smart and hardworking person can rationally decide not to pay much attention to politics. No matter how well-informed a person is, his or her vote has only a tiny chance of affecting the outcome of an election. Since that vote is almost certain not to be decisive, even a citizen who cares greatly about the outcome has almost no incentive to acquire sufficient knowledge to make an informed choice.
I do not believe that citizens are lazy or stupid. The problems of the electorate are multiple and complex. But let me suggest one possibility among many why Americans appear to know so little about their own government and fail to participate in its running: We are fat and happy.
It has been the case for a very long time that it doesn’t really matter who holds any particular political position–including the presidency. Both parties have operated within an acceptable normal political range. Both parties have supported the free enterprise system. Both parties have supported the classically liberal notions of individual self-actualization and political participation. Both political parties have supported the opposition’s right to exist, to contend for power, and to run the show when in the majority.
While some may argue that these common values are breaking down now, the average American just doesn’t see–largely because the status quo bias of journalism keeps such talk out of serious discussion. As long as the economy works and no one is taking political power by force, we the people are happy to spend our time worrying about making money and buying things. As long as these pursuits remain uninterrupted by more than a recession from time to time, we the people just cannot be bothered with politics. Everything appears to work just fine.
I think it is a distinct possibility that we may be approaching a critical political moment in which the old order and stability may be mightily challenged. If events transpire to shake us from our fat-and-happy ways, my guess is we’ll see the public get political in a hurry–assuming those changes remain within some Liberal/Enlightenment norm rather than radical far left or far right alternatives.
Further, the question of voters’ smarts assumes something that isn’t safe to assume: That people can/should make rational political choices. That’s a Liberal/Enlightenment idea. I think it’s a good one. I wouldn’t be writing this weblog otherwise. But I’m also aware that citizens have a emotional experiences of politics. This has always been the case in the American context. And I think this emotional experience of politics–heightened today in part by its coverage on the dramatic medium of television–leads directly to some of the strange results in the data cited above, e.g. voters’ political positions failing to match their favored candidate’s positions.
Really, such a situation is not so strange considering how we experience politics and how we are encouraged to experience politics by the campaigns and the news media that cover them. Yes, the rational truth is out there. But also yes, the campaigns and the news media are not much interested in emphasizing it. The campaigns and the news media, for different reasons, have a stake in the emotional side of politics: the politicians for its persuasive appeal and the news media for its commercial appeal.
Tim, it’s not the press suppressing 3rd, 4th, etc. parties, it’s the GOP and the Dems. Haven’t you noticed that the party that trumpets they want “every vote to count” is also the party working to keep Ralph Nader off the ballots in as many states as possible?
Tim – speaking of “pressthink”, have you been banned over there yet?
It’s a great post and I largely agree with it. IN the American context, politics is largely an interest or a hobby, like golf or tennis. People who are interested in politics, like political bloggers, read a lot and keep informed, no because they see it as a duty but because they find it interesting. (At least that describes me.) Other people have less interest and, therefore, are unwilling to incur the transaction costs involved in becoming informed. The time and effort involved in really understanding issues is likely to be substantial; reading a newspaper or watching the news on TV really isn’t enough. So people channel their energies into pursuits in which they have more interest or that they consider more important. I think it’s more a mark of a successful political system, although I recognize that many would say the opposite.
I would be interested in hearing about transnational comparisons on this. Is this a uniquely American trait? Are Europeans more informed and aware of politics than Americans?
MWS… that would be a good question for one of the many political scientists who blog. Check my list of Professors Who Blog.
“Are Europeans more informed and aware of politics than Americans?”
Not much, if at all; cross-national comparisons are somewhat difficult, since knowledge questions don’t necessarily translate well across political boundaries.
That said, I think the stakes are somewhat higher in political systems where there is greater ideological spread between parties, and where there is less electoral advantage in “fuzzifying” positions (fuzziness is more advantageous to candidates in plurality systems than in proportional representation systems), so in those systems voters tend to be a little more informed. Voters in “new” democracies are probably a little more informed too, due to the novelty factor.
Hope this helps…
Dumb de-dumb dumb
Taegan Goddard wonders if voters are stupid; Andrew Cline replies: I do not believe that citizens are lazy or stupid. The problems of the electorate are multiple and complex. But let me suggest one possibility among many why Americans appear…