The Political Science Of Voters And Their Knowledge

1.) Asa Don Brown, the author of “Desensitization of Terrorism,” focuses on how the influence of the media and social media have desensitized us when it comes to terrorist attacks. Brown directs the article toward an audience who questions why they are no longer as surprised by terrorist attacks when they occur as they used to be. This seems like an extremely odd feeling to have when several people are killed and hundreds are hurt, however, it is the strange reality these days. Terrorist attacks have been happening for years and years now and while we would love to just stop them from occurring, this is blatantly impossible to achieve. He emphasizes in the article, the idea that when terrorist attacks and the terrorists themselves are

One factor that decreases voter turnout is the misconception that a person’s vote does not matter. Alienation is a feeling of personal powerlessness that includes the feeling that the government does not care about individual people. These people believe that the government will not respond to their concerns even if they do vote. The problem is that a large portion of the population shares this attitude. People can have negative

One of the most influential powers of a citizen is exercising he or she’s right to vote. It is important for he or she to become an informed voter, because the countries next leader, who can make huge decisions, is in their hands. In order to become an informed voter, citizens should research the candidates, watch the debates, and keep an open mind.

Political philosopher and social theorist Thomas Sowell has once said, “It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” It is inevitable to meet an ignorant person around each corner that one turns. It is up to the victim to either let the ignorant person corrupt him or to let the victim become smarter. One of America’s greatest activists, Martin Luther King, believed that “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” With this in mind, “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all” (Kennedy).

The book “The Persuadable Voter” by Sunshine Hillygus and Todd Shields examines voters decisions and actions with a focus on persuadable voters. Hillygus and Shields define the persuadable voter as a reasoned voter who vote might change, is undetermined or may not agree with their party. Persuadable voters are often used synonymously with independents and those without a strong partisanship towards one party or the other. Persuadable voters have been often simplified without much examination that goes into what causes these voters to be persuadable or influenceable. Hillygus and Shields question modern myths about persuadable voters and offer their own thoughts on the topic. The authors found that the persuadable voters

Although, there has been other mass shootings, such as the University of Texas massacre in 1966, or how about the first known mass school shooting in the United States, April 9, 1891, at St. Mary's Parochial School, Newburgh, New York. Although, society has experience mass school shootings for well over a hundred years, it was the Columbine High School massacre, that shocked America. Furthermore, ever since the Columbine massacre there has been numerous shootings at our educational facilities, throughout the country. Although, I have mentioned the school massacres, there have been far more violent incidents at the workplace, along with numerous mass shootings at malls, movie theaters, churches, and even grocery stores. Therefore, it is clearly understandable why society feels less safe in this

American’s fear of terrorism is founded on the ideal that it can effect anybody at any point: no one person is safe from terrorism (Anderson). This belief is also demonstrated in the Chapman Study, where participants listed terrorism as one of the five things they most fear (Chapman). By examining expert advice from homeland security and scholars, coupled with images from similar resources, I hope to further the understanding of how America can safe guard against terrorism, while also not compromising the values of liberty and

Mass shootings have become a disturbing trend that is on the rise. They can happen in places like Sports stadiums, Clubs, Schools, shopping centers, movie theaters, and even concerts. A mass shooting can be committed by either an individual or an organization. In recent times terrorist groups have used the tactic of mass shootings to fulfill their political aim. A person who commits a mass shooting could be a terrorist or a random stranger. Ironically, some people can mistake a mass shooting to be a terrorist attack.

“You’re a woman, how could you not vote for Hillary Clinton?” “I’m African American so I have to vote for Barack Obama.” “I need to vote for George W. Bush because he is the Republican candidate and I’m a registered Republican.” “It is my religious obligation to vote for John F. Kennedy.” “I’m from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, so I must vote for John Adams!” Since the United States gained its independence from Britain in 1776, citizens have misused one of the greatest powers granted to them by the Constitution—the power to vote! Uninformed voters feel obligated to vote for the candidate who is most like themselves, whether it be their race, gender, religion or political party. They are blinded by these identifying factors and fail to look deeper into the candidates’ positions on issues and their primary platform. This is known as voter immaturity. The key to voting responsibly is accepting the privilege of being an informed participant in a living democracy.

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.

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

After reading the article, “The dumbing down of voters,” by Rick Shenkman, I was first shocked by his claim that public has an immense lack of knowledge concerning politics. But the more I thought about the claim the more I realised the truth about the statement. Many people in the United States are oblivious to what the government is doing and who is a part of the government. The lack of knowledge from the public is also unsettling because if the public doesn’t know basic knowledge like what are the three branches of government, then the country could take a turn for the worst. Voters are also giving out their votes to presidential candidates that local newspapers focus on because they either are too lazy or ignorant to think for themselves

"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.

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.

There is no denying that a substantial amount of the general public who are citizens are uneducated in regards to politics and policies, but only a fraction of them cast their votes on voting day. This is beneficial to the voting poll because voting is most efficient when it only contains well-informed