Analysis Of The Article 'The Dumbing Down Of Voters'

One reason why Americans shouldn’t be required to vote is because voting without background information might lead to wrong decisions. Evidence supporting this reason is, in document G (New York Times) (Randy Cohen) states that people that are uninformed, will end up voting for something that doesn’t endorse their interests. This evidence helps explain

Political inactivity on the part of young Americans stems from one fundamental source -- a general cynicism of the American political process. This disdain for politics is further perpetuated by a lack of voter education and a needlessly archaic voting procedure that creates barriers to voting where they need not exist. While many of these existing problems can be rectified with relative ease through the implementation of programs such as Internet voting and better voter education, such programs create only a partial solution.

In the studying public opinion and political psychology, the major concern is whether citizens can form and uphold sensible attitudes and beliefs about politics. Previous studies have been skeptical about the capacities of mass public as they emphasized on the merits of basic heuristics in assisting citizens make sensible choices (Lupia 75). Milton Lodge and Charles Taber’s The Rationalizing Voter lays emphasis on the unique aspects of politics- how the masses respond to the prominent political issues and figures. Lodge and Taber focus on the ways in which the automatic affective responses define information processing and opinion updating. They argue that these sentimental responses are stored and rationalized in the long-term memory, and

In the context of 1996, where Richard Harwood claims the average American admits to more knowledge of what actors are on television programs, rather than the people that have been voted in or appointed to represent them in local and national government, The average American voter feels alienated. These voters are alienated to an extent of which they feel they have very little ties to the political system of that time. Harwood references a much older document that illustrates the modern day plight among the voters. He does so to say that this problem isn’t one that is new, but is one that has caused trouble for a long period of time.

This Federalist arguments on the limitations of mass participation also has its merits in a modern context, where voters are often indifferent, uninformed, and easily manipulated in an increasingly technological world. What Fishkin defines as “rational ignorance,” in which citizens are not motivated to go out of their way to learn and form rational opinions on policies, supports Madison’s fears. One aspect of rational ignorance illustrates the tendency of voters to vote only on policy issues relevant to them. For instance, farmers under a mass participatory system may vote only on issues related to agriculture, while remaining ignorant on other issues

As politics and government becomes more complex and involved, more effort is required to keep up with and understand it. As a result, many Americans have lost touch with current events and happenings. Therefore, when election time rolls around, many people lack enough information to develop an educated opinion and support a candidate with their vote, so they just do not vote at all. This lack of information is also related to the belief that one vote will not matter. People believe that their vote will not count, and are therefore following the news less and becoming out of touch with public affairs and politics (Is the System Broken?”). This lack of information is also more strongly apparent among the younger voting population. When interviewed

In order for a government to be run successfully we need to have voters who are informed and up to date with the current events and what the politicians have in store for us. I do not believe voters do know enough to run an efficient government. Even though there is a percentage of people out there who are knowledgeable the unknowledgeable outweighs them. To be efficient voters must possess knowledge in judgement and skills for the government to be run effectively. Voters

"Is Donald Trump right about 'stupid' voters?." By Paul Waldman. Mr. Waldman in his editorial is saying that the basic American has no idea about politics and that they are just being ignorant, and that they watch a commercial or a small skit about their politician. That's what convincing them to vote for them, and that they have known idea who wants what, and who is going for what stand on the matter. Mr Waldman wrote, " But as an old saying has it, you may not hold an interest in politics, but politics will take an interest in you." This a great quote from this editorial because he is saying that there all these people who are saying I know all about politics, and I know why I vote for who I vote for, and they know how to fix all world problems.

Voters play a large role in the election process, therefore their participation and knowledge can determine a lot. Many voters are participating less as the elections go on, due to not being fully informed or educated. “About one-half the eligible electorate does not participate in presidential elections, and turnout for local elections is much lower than that” (Hall, J. S. & Jones, P. M.). With turnouts as low as they are the younger generations are even more reluctant to register to vote let alone play a part in the actual elections. The lowest registration turnouts are beginning with the eighteen to twenty-four year old groups (Hall, J. S. & Jones, P. M.).

I feel that the most crucial aspect of being an informed voter involves understanding the major issues and creating an educated opinion on these issues. Group 1 discussed the many issues that are key factors in the upcoming election, such as education standards, environment issues, foreign affairs, immigration, and economic issues. While I have a decent understanding of many of these issues, I found myself forming opinions on issues such as the economy and foreign affairs that I had not previously considered due to a lack of comprehension of the issues themselves. I feel that insufficient knowledge on the issues is what causes many people to feel indifferent about these issues, which is why being educated on political issues is so significant. By understanding more about economic matters such as the repercussions of the economic recession, the debt crisis, and poverty, I feel much more passionately about these issues and am more

Political ignorance is a growing problem in the United States, and it is strongly influencing both government and relationships. Ignorance, defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “lack of knowledge, understanding, or education”. U.S. citizens may or may not be aware of their oblivion, and there are many differing reasons for it. The worst form of ignorance that is currently sweeping the nation is willful ignorance, “a decision in bad faith to avoid becoming informed about something so as to avoid having to make undesirable decisions that such information might prompt” (yourdictionary.com). In other words, people are purposefully choosing to be ignorant of what is going on in the political world around them. This way of thinking could be traced back to the popular ideology that “ignorance is bliss”. The phrase was first coined by Thomas Gray in 1742 in his poem, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, in which he writes “where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise”. This common saying states that “lack of knowledge results in

Throughout time the concept of democracy have been debated, starting out as far back as Plato. Will citizens know enough information to make informed decisions and if so, will they choose to cooperate? In the America’s attempt to maintain a Democratic nation, it requests that citizens vote on local, state and presidential levels. However, most of the citizens are unable to form a valid opinion because of the general lack of knowledge of how the government works.

And the problem we face today, here in America in particular, but all around the world, is that far too many people are profoundly illiterate in power — what it is, who has it, how it operates, how it flows, what part of it is visible, what part of it is not, why some people have it, why that's compounded. And as a result of this illiteracy, those few who do understand how power operates in civic life, those who understand how a bill becomes a law, yes, but also how a friendship becomes a subsidy, or how a bias becomes a policy, or how a slogan becomes a movement, the people who understand those things wield disproportionate influence, and they're perfectly happy to fill the vacuum created by the ignorance of the great

There is still a debate within the political science community about voters and their knowledge. Manand argues that voters are not dumb but rather, they are just not smart when it comes to politics. Ambramowitz believes that low voter turnout is okay because the people who are voting are the ones who actually understand and know politics. Key believes that independent voters not knowing or understanding politics is okay because voters as a whole group will inevitable pick the correct candidate. Caplan disagrees. “The median voter wants protection. Protection makes the median voter worse off. But the median voter does not want to be worse off” (Caplan 142). Caplan believes that voters do not simply not know or understand things but rather they intentionally pick the wrong or incorrect answer. Caplan believes this is because in the political arena, unlike the rest of American society, there is no real repercussions for choosing wrong. A possible example of this is Americans choosing to believe that a terrorist attack is more fearful, and probable, than a mass shooting.

Why do Americans have limited amount of political knowledge? It’s because the public lacks interest in politics. They rely on group/party loyalty, rather than reasoning. Their responses change randomly from survey to survey. Recent research shows that the public knows some basic things. For example, they know the location of the capital and the length of president’s term, but they lack knowledge about other basic things. About 50% know there are 2 senators for each state, and only 66% know which party controls the House. They show high instability of their preferences, so explosion of information sources has not helped. The authors Greenburg and Page believe that political “trivia” may not be a good measure of adequate knowledge. They also mentioned that the reason for the instability of preference is because people change their minds and reflect on multidimensional ideology. It’s understandable that American citizens have lost trust in the government as well as interest, but the group of people that show the least amount of interest in politics and voting are the young generation.