How Voters Decide by Richard Lau and David Redlawsk

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I am mad. Wait, mad might not be the correct word. Perhaps I should have said angry, but does that truly evoke the complete image of my present emotional state? I think not. Exasperated, agitated, and resentful come to mind, but again, individually, they all fall short of expressing the complex set of emotions experienced when I feel I have been cheated or stolen from. What makes this even more emotionally demoralizing is the fact that those responsible for doing the cheating and stealing do not even recognize that is what they are doing. So who am I referring to, how are they cheating, and what have they stolen? They are the uninformed voters and they are cheating the system by having the same amount of control in election outcome as those who have taken the time to become involved and knowledgeable about the issues. But what are they stealing? In short my vote. Simply put, due to lack of interest, understanding, and participation in the electoral process, uninformed voters who should be awarding their support from a foundation of insight, preparation and knowledge are instead casting votes even they do not agree with.
Ok, so what if a few people get confused and make a wrong vote, just how bad can it be? ‟According to political scientists Richard Lau and David Redlawsk in their book How Voters Decide, the authors find that, in the best case scenario of a choice of two candidates, approximately 70 percent of voters choose correctly”(Belt 643). Now take a minute to really think about the implications of that statement. In a best case scenario, 30 percent of the voter’s choice was for someone or something he or she did not even agree with but was too uninformed to know it. One might ask how this degree of voter incongrui...

... middle of paper ...

...ence 40.1 (1996): 194. Business Source Complete. Web. Tarrant County College Library. 10 Nov. 2013.
Somin, Ilya. "How Political Ignorance Threatens Democracy." USA Today Magazine 133.2714 (2004): 22. MasterFILE Premier. Web. Tarrant County College Library. 10 Nov. 2013.
Bartels, Larry M. "The irrational electorate: many of our worst fears about America's voters are true." The Wilson Quarterly 32.4 (2008): 44+. Student Resources In Context. Web. Tarrant County College Library. 10 Nov. 2013.
"More media won't solve political ignorance." Reuters. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 8 Oct. 2013. Web. Tarrant County College Library. 10 Nov. 2013.
Redlawsk, David P., and Richard R. Lau. How Voters Decide: Information Processing During Election Campaigns. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print. Tarrant County College Library. 10 Nov. 2013.

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