Vote for apathy? The uninformed are the key ingredient for a working democracy, study finds
A well-informed, interested public is often hailed as the 'ideal' of democracy.
But a new Princeton study suggests that the opposite could be the case - and that people who have no interest at all could be vital to the working of a democratic society.
The uninformed are essential to democracy because their apathy helps to dilute the effect of powerful minority interests - for instance, highly educated elites - who would otherwise dominate public life.
The researchers used animal research, mathematical models and computer simulations. They report that in animal groups, uninformed individuals — those with no strong feelings on a situation's outcome — tend to side, simply, which whichever group is the largest.
DailyMailThis is one big reason that I don't trust polls. They can be a self fulfilling prophecy that the polling company influences.
