Democracy is meant to be a means for the 'every person' to help govern the nation. However, Popkin's theory of low information rationality posits that 'every person' is unlike the ideal citizen in that they do not make their decisions based on fact, but rather, personal interactions and information from the media. Populistic Democracy allows for the governing of the nation through the 'simple person' not the privileged elite. However, similar to Popkin, Berelson believes most citizens are not able to maintain specific standards needed to successfully govern a nation. This may be because most people lack the education and understanding of what it takes to run a country and select adequate political representatives. The four standards briefly covered by Berelson: discussion, principle, rationality, and knowledge, are what an ideal citizen upholds. The reality of ideality means no one represents the ideal citizen, especially in great numbers. This is because populistic democracy requires ideal conditions, making it an unfeasible means of democracy in the United States.Voters according to Popkin, rely on ways of collecting information that come from popular outlets like the media and community. In a theory he calls, 'low information rationality' he explains the sources he collected to understand the process of voters in rationally choosing a political candidate.
My theory of how voters reason is a theory of low-information rationality which emphasizes the sources of information voters have about politics, as well as their beliefs about how government works. The theory is drawn from three main sources: the voting studies done at Columbia University in the 1940's; the theoretical contributions to the economics of information made by Anthony Downs; and certain ideas from modern cognitive psychology (9).[footnoteRef:1] [1: Samuel L. Popkin, The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), p. 9.]
Essentially, Popkin states voters ask themselves: 'Based on personal information, what is the likelihood a political candidate will be the best choice?'. Using Down's theory concerning information shortcuts, voters use the information they see from the media and from the community to build their opinions and personal knowledge of a political candidate. If they see that for example, Trump is a successful businessman, they will then use that information to weigh whether he will be a good president. Some Trump supporters believed Trump's economic policy will help put the United States back on the road to prosperity based on his ability to build an empire.
They also believed that immigrants were at fault for the current state of the American economy and wanted Trump would solve this problem by ridding the country of such immigrants. "Many people voted for Trump because they wrongly believe that undocumented immigrants take their jobs and hurt our economy, that equality for people of color comes at a cost for whites, and that if we just give more...
Voting Behavior Suffrage is an integral component of every American citizen's democratic rights and the law has given it top priority. But realities such as the difficulties encountered from the registration phase to the voting phase, emphasis on registration as a bureaucratic task, predispositions, election-specific forces and other determinants of participation have resulted in unclear and inconsistent pattern of voting behavior and inconclusive turnout and voting choices. Political scientists and thinkers
It is also said that Islam is against democracy due to the sovereignty it vest on God, the sole source of political authority and whose divine law provides regulations that govern the community of believers. Some scholars view this as Islam becomes embodied in a totalitarian state. In Democracy and Arab Political Culture, the late Elie Kedourie wrote that in Muslim political tradition, popular sovereignty being a foundation of governmental
In the gender category the most likely to vote is the female voter that has a mild advantage over the male type of voter. This assumption should be analyzed carefully, as often in survey as well as in collected votes some mistakes may appear. The difference between the female and the male voter is very small which indicates that both genders have more or less equal vote intentions and, therefore,
American Democracy Voter Turnout in 1988 American Presidential Election: Democracy is for the people and by the people and it can be successful if people participate effectively in electing their representatives. In 1988, presidential elections were held in United States of America. Statistics shows that voter turnout for this presidential election was very low. Voter turnout was as low as 50.1%. In spite of an increasing trend of voter turnouts in the
Human Relation -- A Social Science Perspective Fundamental differences between the social sciences and the natural sciences Science is commonly taken to be an attempt at predicting, understanding, and explaining our world, using distinctive modes of analysis for developing theories. However, defining a collection of attributes that distinguish sciences from religion, fortune telling, astrology and other such disciplines (not categorized under sciences), which also aim at understanding and explaining our world, is
Over the years, the electoral process has changed a lot. As per the original rules, each state legislature selected its electors. The electors would then assemble at a given time and vote for two people. The person with the majority of votes became the president and the runner-up became the vice-president. This system was in practice until the 1800 election. (the Presidential Electoral Process) By 1800, American politics were dominated
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now