The WaPo reports this morning that political scientists have issued a revised version of the landmark study, The American Voter, which first came out in 1960. The new edition reaches the same conclusion as the first: Americans don't know much and base their opinions on dopey considerations (like whether they'd want to have a beer with a candidate).

The story goes on to note that not all academics agree with this dismal assessment, citing the work of Samuel Popkin, author of The Reasoning Voter. Popkin argues that voters use short-cuts to get around their lack of information.

The story takes an objective on the one hand and on the other approach. A thumb on the scale might be in order. As I have been pointing out on this blog repeatedly the PIPA study,"Misperceptions, The Media and The Iraq War" (Oct. 2003) demonstrated that people ignorant of basic facts are easily bamboozled.

To reiterate the high points:

In March 2003 some 60% of Americans believed that Saddam was behind 9-11 despite the absence of evidence for the claim. 80 percent of the people who backed the war cited this misinformation as a key reason for their position. A year later the 9-11 Commission reported that Saddam had no connection to 9-11. Still 50 percent of the American people believed he did.

The debate is over as far as I'm concerned. While short-cuts can be employed in certain situations to make up for the public's lack of information, they cannot protect the public from wily politicians eager to exploit public ignorance.

Ignorant voters are sitting ducks for manipulation.

When are we going to face this fact?