Does Voter Ignorance Have a Shape?

According to a new recent New Yorker article, the answer is yes,

Unfortunately, voter ignorance does seem to have a shape. The political scientist Scott Althaus has calculated that a voter with more knowledge of politics will, on balance, be less eager to go to war, less punitive about crime, more tolerant on social issues, less accepting of government control of the economy, and more willing to accept taxes in order to reduce the federal deficit. And Caplan calculates that a voter ignorant of economics will tend to be more pessimistic, more suspicious of market competition and of rises in productivity, and more wary of foreign trade and immigration.

All of the above points matter. Pessimists believe that we are living in bad times, but reality shows otherwise. Economic welfare has never been better. Violence has never been lower. Essentially, we are richer and safer than ever before.

The real reason many feel this isn't true is because of the ever growing inequality in the United States. This can be addressed with proper tax and transfer programs, which the Democratic nominee in the upcoming election is offering. The Republican nominee, on the other hand, is offering more tax breaks for the super rich, which will only lead to more inequality and exasperate the feeling of pessimism so rife in our age of plenty and security.

Do read the whole article quoted above.

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