ABSTRACT

At first glance, the idea that widespread political ignorance is rational seems to make little sense. But, in reality, most such ignorance really is rational, in large part because there is so little payoff for individual voters in learning political information. This chapter explains why most political ignorance is rational, and why this explanation is more compelling than alternative hypotheses of “inadvertent ignorance” and “irrational ignorance.” It also summarizes some implications of widespread rational ignorance for democratic theory.