The Uneducated Voter
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The Uneducated Voter
| Sat, 10-11-2008 - 3:39am |
20/20 featured a story on voters who know little to nothing about government, issues, or the candidates, but are courted by the "Rock the Vote" movement, as well as others who argue that voting is "civic duty".
If a voter doesn't know much about the issues or the candidates, is it their civic duty to vote, or their civic duty to stay home?
I know that the founding fathers argued about the publics capacity to make decisions that were best for the country, not to mention themselves. So this debate has been argued for over 200 years.
What are your thoughts? Do voters have a civic duty to educate themselves on the issues? Or do they just need to show up at the polls?

I think that it shows the problem with an unlimited franchise.
People who have no idea what they are voting on or the stand of candidates outweigh those who take the time to understand the issues.
Personally, I'd love to see a simple voting knowledge test - before you go into the voting booth, you have to answer a few basic civics questions pertaining to the campaign, and if you don't get a passing score, you don't get to vote.
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i agree (gasp!) but ...
history tells us that such tests are a way to manipulate which "groups" get to vote. we err on the side of letting uninformed voters in to avoid the risk of shutting some informed voters out on purpose.
Bea
The uneducated
<<I totally agree.. It's their civic duty to BECOME informed. With the Internet & cable TV & the get out the vote initiatives NO ONE has an excuse not to be informed.>>
i think it is easy to become informed, the only problem is people have a hard time picking the credible sources.there is so much garbage out there, it's frightening what headlines and sound bytes people will believe.
I saw 20/20 last night and I was shocked at how little people knew.
I guess that after being on these boards I am not sure that "educating" oneself about the candidates is what very many people do.
I read the nonsense about Obama not being a citizen or the nonsense about Palin not being the mother of her youngest child and realize that folks who spout these positions may well actually think they *are* educated about the candidates.
Then again I don't know anyone IRL who thinks any of these things ;-)
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