POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE AND DEMOCRACY

WHY DOES KNOWLEDGE MATTER Vertical accountability and throwing the bastards out: core assumptions of democracy Why was the First Amendment the first amendment? Voting models (prospective vs. retrospective) and knowledge Are ideological shortcuts enough? Ideologies Parties Emotions Interest group cues Political and electoral system design The stakes of not knowing…

WHY DO SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT IT DOESN’T MATTER IF PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THAT MUCH ABOUT POLITICS? What are heuristical shortcuts? How much do you need to know? A little bit about satisficing and rational choice theory What’s the problem with using ideologies (conservative, liberal, libertarianism to vote wisely?) Can (1) parties, (2) emotions, or (3) interest groups save dumb voters? How can political and electoral system design impact how much info is needed for voters to hold politicians accountable? Checks & balances and two-party systems What are the stakes of not knowing? Is there a wisdom of the crowds where low sophistication voters cross each other out? (Your reading from the Economist: Anti-market bias, pro-work bias, anti-foreign bias, pessimism trumps… I would add not understanding Keynesian economics)

HOW GOOD IS OUR KNOWLEDGE OF POLITICS? Unbelievably bad: No better since the 1950s? What has happened with the availability of knowledge since then? Why is much worse for us to have low political sophisti- cation today than it was then? The changed role of knowledge in American politics since the 1950s

Political Knowledge in 2007 (15 months before the election)

HOW DO WE MEASURE KNOWLEGE? What’s the difference between trivia and knowledge? Different types of political knowledge Key actors and their powers Institutions Procedures Important issues Sophistication

WHO HAS THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE? Why is knowledge like the Moses & the Red Sea rather than a Bell Curve? Virtuous vs. vicious circles How big is the educational gap? Why is there an occupation and income gap? How big is the gender gap? Does it matter how we measure sophistication? Why is there a race gap? Af. Amer. and Latinos

What’s the link between knowledge and public opinion? Why do opinions matter so much in America if they are uninformed? Does opinion on some issues matter more than others? How do we measure public opinion? Calling your politicians, vs. focus groups vs. survey methodology (dealing with “bias” in surveys) Should we govern by public opinion? Referenda, initiatives, vs. direct democracy