Is There an Irrational Voter?
With reference to our comment on the Politics of Identity, a number of readers have taken issue with our conceptualization of rationality and the claim that all voters are rational. In this post we respond to the issues raised by the readers. The gist of the points raised is as follows: You have failed to stress that the rationality of the Pakistani voter is different from that of the liberal citizen who was the subject of the Stanley Fish column on which you commented. What about the frequent comments made that Bush was a great guy to have a beer with and that is why he was worth voting for? How do you view that? Is voting always rational or is it sometimes visceral?...