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HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT POLITICS?

HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT POLITICS?. Fact or opinion: http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/news-statements-quiz/ What do we know: http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/the-news-iq-quiz/

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HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT POLITICS?

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  1. HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT POLITICS? • Fact or opinion: http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/news-statements-quiz/ • What do we know: http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/the-news-iq-quiz/ • What have long been the main sources of knowledge in US politics? Formal documents and education, tradition and culture, authority, commonsense guessing & personal observation • What’s wrong with knowing politics this way? • What is overgeneralization? Why are our brains hardwired to do it? • Why do people selectively review and incorporate evidence when they know they shouldn’t? We are rationally irrational • Why is disinformation is so prevalent? (Some evidence from 2016):http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/lists/people/comparing-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-truth-o-met/ • Why does it matter if we’re sometimes wrong about the big things?Some data to come below… How informed are we about politics and then a couple of examples about what happens when we don’t know much about politics…

  2. HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT POLITICS? • What have long been the main sources of knowledge in US politics? Formal documents and education, tradition and culture, authority, commonsense guessing & personal observation • What’s wrong with knowing politics this way? • What is overgeneralization? What is the accessibility bias? Why are our brains hardwired to do it? • Why do people selectively review and incorporate evidence when they know they shouldn’t? We are rationally irrational • Why is disinformation is so prevalent?:http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/lists/people/comparing-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-truth-o-met/ • Why does it matter if we’re sometimes wrong about the big things?Some data to come… How informed are we about politics and then a couple of examples about what happens when we don’t know much about politics…

  3. Pew - 2013

  4. How much in debt is the US? What are the main source of America’s debt? • Which party, when in control, makes rich Americans richer and poor Americans poorer? Why? • Whose right… Trump or Bernie? • How much to electoral campaigns matter?

  5. Source: http://www.cbpp.org/research/economic-downturn-and-legacy-of-bush-policies-continue-to-drive-large-deficits?fa=view&id=3849

  6. Does globalization hit all AIDs the same, making growing inequality unavoidable? US

  7. And then W. Europe

  8. WHAT DO POLITICAL SCIENTISTS KNOW THAT YOU DON’T? (READING) • Campaigns, debates, and money in politics doesn’t matter very much. The overall state of the economy, the popularity of the incumbent president, and partisanship does. • Most elections are won by turnout, not changing opinions. This is why political polling is so hard. • It’s hard to know what people want from government and leaders: Not consistent, not well informed, mostly not strong in opinions • Leaders don’t listen to public opinion—they make it. • Political independents aren’t independent • We seem to be “collectively rational”: Betting markets • Almost all “spontaneous movements” aren’t spontaneous

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