Why Do People Vote Against Their Best Interests?
Why Do People Vote Against Their Best Interests? The idea that people vote against their own interests becomes complicated as soon as we ask what counts as an interest. Voters consider economic outcomes, identity, community, morality, security, and other priorities, and they may deliberately sacrifice one objective to pursue another. The more useful analysis separates different priorities from mistaken predictions. Someone who knowingly accepts a financial cost for another goal is making a tradeoff. Someone who expects a political choice to advance a goal when the evidence points in the opposite direction presents a different problem. “Best Interest” Is Not One Thing Political discussions often treat economic self-interest as though it were the obvious benchmark for rational voting. Income, employment, taxes, healthcare, housing, and financial security certainly matter, but they do not exhaust what voters value. People also care about national identity, belonging, religion, community, ...
