ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that despite the limited political knowledge and engagement typically displayed by the American public, public preferences—at least in the aggregate—are “enlightened enough” to serve as a reasonable basis for guiding government decision-makers on a wide range of issues. The most trenchant recent analysis of Americans’ shortcomings as democratic citizens is by political scientists Christopher H. Achen, Christopher H. and Larry M. Bartels. Among the many enduring contributions of Converse’s seminal paper was the concept of issue publics—the obvious but often overlooked fact that different people care about different political issues. In order to participate in democratic governance, citizens must be able to form meaningful preferences on the policy issues that government addresses. The availability of competing frames, and the give and take of political debate have been shown to undermine framing effects, reducing or eliminating differences in responses.
