Why Become Politically Informed?

Abstract

Downs (1957) shows that it is not in the rational, self-interest of citizens to vote, or be politically informed, nor participate in the political process, more generally. Much scholarly attention has been given to the first dilemma, and substantially less to the second. The focus of this chapter is on the second dilemma of democracy, that is, that it is not in the self-interest of citizens to become informed about politics. This neglect of the second enigma is somewhat puzzling, because it is the more serious problem in a democracy. We can increase turnout by reducing the costs of physically voting. But, if individuals remain ignorant of candidates and issues, elections just produce random outcomes.