On voter competencePaul Goren.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Research shows that most citizens are shockingly uninformed about public affairs, liberal-conservative ideologies, and the issues of the day. This has led most scholars to condemn typical American voters as politically brainless and to conclude that policy voting lies beyond their reach. 'On Voter Competence' breaks sharply from this view. According to Paul Goren, people vote based on abstract policy principles, a practice that has escaped scholars because they have searched for evidence of policy voting in the wrong places.

The indictment of the American voter -- Policy cleavages in historical context -- Policy attitudes and political sophistication -- The three faces of policy voting -- The availability of policy principles -- The centrality of policy principles -- The origins of policy principles -- The electoral consequences of policy principles -- The exoneration of the American voter? -- Appendix: measurement of key variables.

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