Yes, this election should be a no-brainer.
Unfortunately, there are considerable numbers of people who do not use their brains when voting.
This is not to say they are brainless people in every category. But they don't pay attention to politics, they don't figure out what's important, and they use somewhat random reasoning processes to get to their conclusion.
They are the low-info voter.
And wonking at them is death.
To the Flipmobile!
To support my thesis (I'm a natural wonk) I will draw upon this article by Stephen Earl Bennett, Political Ignorance Revisited.
The global conclusion is rather depressing to us Kossacks:
In short, the 2004 ANES showed that most Americans were "out to lunch" when it came to basic information about politics. Although only a small percentage were know-nothings, most people had only a limited amount of information.
What does this translate to? When a crisis strikes, like our current economic pit, the majority of people have two problems in figuring out which candidate is going to make the decisions they like:
They don't know how the problem happened.
They don't know what should be done to fix it.
This is a classic characteristic of the low-info voter. They have absolutely no confidence in their ability to judge proposals on their merits. It's too complicated, it's confusing, and they don't know where to start. That's why people so often seize on stupid solutions.
These solutions have the compelling low-info appeal of a direct action and a simple process.
A woman/war hero/business leader will understand me/knows what to do.
Our deficit is because no one is vetoing earmarks!
Drill, baby, drill!
We should be turning our wonks skills into simplifying and explaining these issues, so the low-info voter understands it. This is where smart people always mess up the political process.
Unfortunately, several aspects of American politics and campaigns contribute to indifference rather than to interest. Harvard professor Thomas Patterson pointed out that lengthy election processes, and especially the "front-loaded" party nomination procedures, result in apathy, which prevents learning. Carleton College professor Steven Schier established that the parties’ tendency to target only small segments of the electorate excludes others from taking part in electoral politics, which also contributes to indifference and ignorance.
I would lay heavy blame on the current state of the media. If the only way I was informed of the issues was by watching television or reading newspapers, I would have no idea what was going on. They bounce right off the surface of whatever it is, going for the quip or the attack, and they never, never, never explain what is going on.
So it's not entirely the low-info voter's fault.
This is where the attitude of "well, they should!" is pointless. They don't, mostly because they really don't see how laws and policies enacted far away, by a bunch of people droning on, really impact them. Until it does, and their attempts to figure it out are stymied by deliberate obfuscation by the guilty parties.
There's hope.
The more people knew about politics, the more consistent their policy attitudes were.
There's your swing voters. And why they swing so wildly.
With our candidates being covered because it's an election year, it's a golden opportunity to serve up some solid information to cut through the bullshit.
Our Democratic candidates have got some explaining to do.
Too often, our smart, policy driven, positions are outflanked by simplistic slogans. Don't bemoan it. Use it.
The surest way to enhance political information levels is to convince people to become more interested in politics. In 2004, the mean score on the PI scale for the least interested segment of the public was 1.7. Among the most interested, the mean score was 6.2.
And the best way to get them interested is to explain how this impacts them.
We hate simplistic language. But hey, we already have the smart people.
Now it's time to boil it down and quit going into those deadly, "Well, this is a problem with a lot of factors..."
Boom. That's the low-info voter's interest and comprehension hitting the floor.
Because it doesn't matter that the Republicans simplistic explanations are also wrong. They get through.
We must do the same, but without the lying and deceit.
Losing your home? "You were scammed by bankers looking for a quick buck. The Republicans changed the rules to let them do it. I will stop this."
High food and gas prices? "The Republicans let the oil industry close off alternative energy, so they can charge whatever they want. I will stop this."
Jobs going overseas? "The Republicans give tax breaks to companies to encourage them to do this. I will stop this."
Tax breaks? "Go to whatsmytaxbreak.com. See how much of a tax cut you would get. See how much the Republicans want to give you."
Corporate tax breaks? "Did you know xx number of companies don't pay taxes at all? Is that fair? The Republicans think so."
I'm sure you can come up with more of your own. Let's do it.
And get the word out to the campaign.