Anthony Downs

American democracy has long puzzled social scientists who have studied the topic at some length. On the one hand, the United States has maintained its democratic form for over 225 years and has, under most metrics, been quite successful under the sovereign indirect control of the electorate. On the other hand, Political Science research has consistently found the American voter to be surprisingly uninformed. Larry Bartels goes so far as to say that “the political ignorance of the American voter is one of the best documented data in political science” (1996, 194). But what follows from both observations seem intuitively opposes to each other. How is it that a democratic ship of state could ever function well, let alone even competently, when its captain (the American citizen) is so unqualified to steer it? Or in other words, how could democracy possible work under conditions of poor information and …show more content…
Downs argued that not only was retrospective voting a good strategy for overcoming limited knowledge but also that it was rational for democratic societies to function this way. For Downs, the costs associated with becoming informed are far too burdensome for the average citizen. Instead voters should look for ways to cut down on the costs of gaining information by using shortcuts including ideology and past performance. This approach is not a purely retrospective one, since Downs does suggest voters consider all options when voting, including those parties who have not help power and could not be retrospected upon. But he does suggest that retrospecting on the performance of the incumbent party remains the most accurate piece of information available to the electorate and will be a vital part of the