We learn from the Civitas Institute and “Under the Dome” that most people have no idea who Phil Berger, Thom Tillis, and Joe Hackney are.

Those familiar with the concept of public choice economics will not be surprised. As American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia tells us:

[P]ublic choice analysis explains why many voters will be uninformed about issues and the positions of candidates on issues. This lack of voter information merely reflects the incentive structure confronting each individual voter. When decisions are made collectively, the direct link between the individual voter’s choice and the outcome of the issue is broken. The probability that a single vote will decide an election is virtually zero when the decision-making group is large. Recognizing that the outcome will not depend on his or her vote, the individual voter has little incentive to seek information (which is costly) on issues and candidates in order to cast a more informed vote. Thus, voters are likely to be uninformed (or misinformed) on many issues and candidates. Economists refer to this phenomenon as the “rational ignorance effect.” …