Are We Truly Rational When We Vote? | Politics with Paul #112

We all like to imagine ourselves as fully-reasoned voters when we go to cast our ballot…but just how rational are we? Tons of academic studies and non-academic investigations show that the rationality of voters is not a simple "yes or no" question, but is a complex web of who, when, why, and how much. Today's episode of Politics with Paul explores the topic, including the mental shortcuts we use to make rational thinking easier, how even rational mechanisms can be used irrationally, and the importance of honestly evaluating our ability to use reason and logic for our vote choice. 0:00 The Rational Voter: An Introduction 1:37 Defining Rational Voting 4:03 Heuristics and Rational Voting 7:18 4 Models of Voting Behavior 9:06 Model #1: Rational Choice Theory 11:39 Model #2: Party-Line Voting 15:12 Model #3: Retrospective Voting 18:49 Model #4: Prospective Voting 23:18 Beyond Rationality: What Else Impacts Our Vote 32:45 So, How Rational are We? 34:47 Call to Action: Be More Aware of How Rationally You Vote Other Works FREE 5-day educational email course on how to fight polarization: https://detoxifyamericanpolitics.com/ Buy my book about political independents: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Independen... Medium articles on elections and political science:   / paulrader-42650   Media LinkedIn:   / paulrader352   My website: https://paulrader.org/ Facebook:   / paulraderwrites   Email: paulraderwrites@gmail.com