Analyzing The Average American Voter

Andre Blais in his work “Vote or not to vote” examine the merits and limitations of rational choice model in explaining the oter behavior. What makes people decide to vote? He notes that turnout is higher in strong party-group alignments, more economically advanced democracies and in PR systems. The general categories that Andre uses in his research are:

In terms of how informed American citizens are about their government, it has been well documented that the majority of the American populace are not well informed about political goings-on, and have not been for a lengthy period of time. In a 2012 survey issued to 1010 American adults, Pew Research Center found that out of a 12 question survey covering the American presidential election of that year, American voters were only able to answer 58.2% of the questions. Only 85% could correctly identify Joe Biden as the current vice president, and only 40% knew that the Republicans had a majority in Congress (Pew Research Center, 2012, p 1). Even more alarming was that among the citizens surveyed who were not registered voters, the percentages of people able to correctly answer these questions fell to 60%, and 22% respectively. While unregistered voters being unable to vote would certainly mean a drop off between the two groups ability to answer the question, drop off as large as a quarter of respondents being unable to identify the vice president is still cause for alarm. In another study conducted by Pew Research Center comparing American citizens’ ability to answer political questions in 1989 and 2007, they concluded that American ignorance of current events is a systemic problem rather than an emerging one. When asked to identify the vice president, only 74% of

How do people compensate for their lack of knowledge? Many people use information shortcuts to help them make decisions on how to vote. An information shortcut is voting for a party because they know the beliefs of the party but not the specific facts of the issue or the specific candidate. Voters use information shortcuts in order to learn about a topic without spending more time. For example, author Ilya Somin wrote that 57 percent of the population did not know who Newt Gingrich was in 1994. Somin also stated, “70 percent cannot name either of their states senators. Overall, close to a third of Americans can be categorized as ‘know-nothings’ who are almost completely ignorant of relevant political information” (Somin 416-417).

The topic that I have chosen regarding Bryan Caplan’s book is the topic of rational ignorance. Bryan Caplan defines rational ignorance as a voter’s belief that one vote has a small probability of changing the outcome of an election. Several voters are rationally ignorant, myself included, which after reading The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies I have to ask myself why even vote at all other than it is considered by some to be a civic duty.

Granted, some voters are inherently motivated by their sense of civic duty, some by their sense of identity and some by their ideology.

If I had five minutes to speak with the President, I would speak to him about the current national policy on voting. Our country runs on a system of representative democracy; the country votes for who they wish to represent their interests. However, some demographics are far more likely to vote in all kinds of elections. This is due to many different factors, but a large cause of this is voter suppression. This is when, typically state, government puts in certain rules and regulations that make it difficult for certain kinds of demographics to vote. One of the largest contributents to voter suppression of the lower class is photo ID laws. I would suggest the President implement a policy that states that no voting laws can be passed to inhibit a person's ability

Do you believe voting is an important part of democracy? In our last presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, only a little more than half of the eligible voters showed up to polls to cast their votes. This is unacceptable we are one of the oldest democracy and yet voter turnout is out of the lowest in the world, although our voter turnout is low America should require people to vote. Reasons include many countries that have compulsory voting are successful at it, compulsory voting Improvers legitimacy of government, “Voting is important for democracies in several key ways a democracy functions with the people - either directly or through the representatives - decide who will lead the country

In this weeks Anthony Downs reading we were able to use the knowledge we have gained about the structure of institutions so far from our discussions and texts and apply it to voting in politics. In “An Economic Theory of Democracy” Downs focused on the calculus behind voting and voter turnout to draw the conclusion that there is no point in voting. When Downs was explaining the reasoning behind voting he spoke of the utility income that the government provides to us; these benefits of utilities are the incentives that should determine the way that we vote and show its importance. Using the idea of looking to maximize utilities to determine how you vote was a fascinating idea to me and make me question he inefficiencies that exist in voting today that cause people to vote based on different reasons. So the irrational ways we base our voting decisions on (instead of utility) is what I primarily focus on as these voting habits show how citizens vote off superficial issues, not campaign platforms.

As a first time voter I feel that it would be exciting to be apart of choosing the next leader of our country. We can choose the right economic policies that will positively affect the future. It’s a way to honor those who fought for us during the Civil rights movement. We, as young voters get a chance to exercise our rights as adults and make a difference. We can also demonstrate our concerns as future parents for the next generation. Voting is our way expressing our thoughts in politics and the world itself.

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.

Rather than how many votes a candidate receive in the ballot, the president is decided by the number of electoral votes. Every state has a number of electors who have one vote each. The number of electors per state is generally proportional to its size and population. So, the more districts there are in a state, the more representatives there are in that state the more electors they get in the election. For example, California has 55 electoral votes while there are seven smaller states with only three electoral votes each. Electors are expected to vote for the candidate who wins the majority of a state’s popular vote. In 48 states there is a winner takes all methods with electors votes awarded as a single bloc. For example, if over 50% of people vote democrat in Florida the democrats receive all 29 of the state’s electoral votes. Main and Nebraska are the exceptions, dishing their votes out proportionally. In the event of a tie the House of Representatives and the senate vote for the president and vice president.

Candidates dictate the way they present themselves and their image to voters. Based on their presentation and self-image, voters will take these into account with their own views. What is voting action theory and how does it apply to the way voters vote? How does this change the behavior behind the voting process per registered voters? Why do voters want their political candidates to share their views? What effect do the votes on a candidate have on the economy or health care? What studies have been done to show the behavior and the change in such with each political candidate or how the candidate is treated? What psychological tools are used during these studies?

American voting behavior is very important if you didn’t already know. It matters for the purpose of the foundation and execution of a plan of public policy in democracies. American voting behaviors involve a stepping process which is gained and answered with a “choice” and “decision” in voting. For example, what it’s talking about here is “choice” which is putting together an opinion in support of one candidate over the other. now as for the “decision” step you and whoever else must decide whether you all are going to participate in the action of voting meaning are the majority whole or half of the people that live in the united states going to choose which candidates they all favor then decide from that response if they're going to vote or

Winston Churchill stated, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” In the beginning of our democracy being built, some saw education being important in order to create informed citizens. Thomas Jefferson noticed that upholding our democracy rest in the people’s hands and them being well-educated and informed citizens (Perkinson 6). He was correct when he said that the purpose of education is to produce well-informed citizens to uphold our democracy that works for the common good of the people. This is still a purpose of education today and is more important than ever towards our democracy surviving and withstanding. Educating and creating informed citizens through civic

By voting tells candidates that they must back up what they promise to do to help make our nation a better place to live. It also allows issues addressed by citizens concerns on different issues in their state and communities. Going to the polls on the day to vote shows a good example for your children, friends, family, and neighbors.