Comparing Americans' Political Information in 1988 and 1992

Although Americans were more active in the 1992 campaign and felt they were better informed than they had been in 1988, National Election Studies (NES) data from both years show that Americans were not substantially more knowledgeable. Two-stage-least-squares equations estimated on the 1988 and 1992 NES show that the processes of becoming informed were the same in both years. These analyses show, once again, the intractability of political ignorance in mass publics.