ABSTRACT
Debates about democratic theory are inevitably layered on political psychological assumptions. One point of tension concerns the quality of the ordinary citizens’ political thinking. Do they have sufWciently informed, stable, and thoughtful preferences to make rational political choices? Do they process information well enough to have trustworthy judgment? Or are they poorly informed, emotional, easily swayed, and with judgment so poor that it should be kept at some distance from the instruments of political power? Key (1966), perhaps echoing some early Jeffersonian sentiment, is famously quoted as saying that “voters are no fools,” while the Federalists were considerably more concerned about the momentary passions that might sway ordinary people, and helped construct a republican political system that diluted the voice of “the people.”
