Podcasts Government Not Another Politics Podcast Are Irrational Voters A Threat To Democracy?

Are Irrational Voters A Threat To Democracy?

Published: Nov. 3, 2021, 1:16 p.m.

b'There\\u2019s a long tradition in political science of using voter rationality to test the health of our democracy. But could this myopia be misguided? Are there any situations where irrational and uninformed voters could actually generate a healthier democracy?\\n\\nThat\\u2019s exactly what University of Chicago political scientist Ethan BdM examines in his paper \\u201cIs Voter Competence Good for Voters?: Information, Rationality, and Democratic Performance\\u201d. Using formal models, he lays out the possibility that information and rationality do not always lead to a better democracy and strikes directly at the heart of this foundational literature.'