On one hand, an informed citizenry is allegedly necessary for a democracy to flourish; on the other hand, the most knowledgeable and passionate voters are also the most likely to think in corrupted, biased ways

Are Smarter Voters Better Voters? Michael Hannon. PhilPapers, Jan 2021. https://philpapers.org/rec/HANASV

Abstract: It is widely believed that democracies require knowledgeable citizens to function well. But the most politically knowledgeable individuals also tend to be the most partisan and the strength of partisan identity tends to corrupt political thinking. This creates a conundrum. On one hand, an informed citizenry is allegedly necessary for a democracy to flourish. On the other hand, the most knowledgeable and passionate voters are also the most likely to think in corrupted, biased ways. What to do? This paper examines this tension and draws out several lessons. First, it is not obvious that more knowledgeable voters will make better political decisions. Second, worries about voter ignorance may be misguided because partisans tend to become more dogmatic when they acquire more information. Third, ‘epistocratic’ solutions that emphasize voter knowledge are troubling, in part, because they increase the political power of the most dogmatic and biased individuals. Fourth, I suggest that solutions to citizen incompetence should focus less on voter knowledge and more on the intellectual virtue of objectivity. Unfortunately, a likely way to foster political objectivity is by encouraging political apathy.

Keywords: political knowledge  political ignorance  motivated reasoning  epistocracy  objectivity  partisan bias