Why do people vote against their own interests?
Discussion Paper #20 – (opens own window & keeps this page open for convenient commenting whilst reading)
Intro: Last year, in a series of “town-hall meetings” across the country, Americans got the chance to debate President Obama’s proposed healthcare reforms. What happened was an explosion of rage and barely suppressed violence.
Polling evidence suggests that the numbers who think the reforms go too far nearly match those who think they do not go far enough.
But it is striking that the people who most dislike the whole idea of health-care reform— the ones who think it is socialist, godless, a step on the road to a police state—are often the ones it seems designed to help.
There is nothing voters hate more than having things explained to them as though they were idiots.