The Representation Gap and Political Sophistication: A Contrarian Perspective

Abstract

Political behavior research persistently questions the ability of the average citizen to make voting choices that accurately represent their political views. We argue that voters’ choices should be judged by the outcome of the choices, and not the decision-making process. The representation gap measures the policy agreement between voters and their chosen party using data from the 2014 European Election Study and the Chapel Hill Experts Survey. We consider whether the political sophistication of individual voters affects agreement levels. Negative results are rarely reported widely—but they can be important. This study finds little evidence that political interest, education, information level or even party identification substantially affect the size of the representation gap. Less and more sophisticated citizens both find ways to make voting decisions that broadly match their opinions. The results yield a more positive view of the mass public, the electoral process, and democratic representation.