ABSTRACT
Though citizens want and like direct democracy, especially in the states that use these institutions the most, it is not clear that citizens are well equipped to participate in some plebiscites. On the whole, citizens have more difficulty finding good information or reliable voting cues in plebiscites than in general election races between major party candidates. The populist conception of public opinion is oversimplified. People cannot adequately express their views on contentious, complex issues by plebiscite. The populist conception of democracy has a lot of shortcomings. The theory of voting that serves as its premise is not valid; elections cannot achieve the purpose populists have for them. In addition, the dichotomous either/or choices presented to the public in plebiscites engineer a majority that neither reflects the complexity of public opinion nor pays sufficient heed to the rights of minorities historically vulnerable to majority tyranny.
