Voting is a personality flaw?

|

Economists have long argued that citizens are "rationally ignorant" of politics because the payoff to voting is so small compared to the annoyance of actually following political controversies, I mean, ugh, the costs in the voters' time and attention to acquire political information.

Now psychologists at Ohio State University claim to have discovered that people with a high "need to evaluate" are more likely to play politics and to vote. The more likely you are to say to someone that his haircut stinks, the more likely you are to declare that "George Bush is a liar" or "John Kerry is a wimp."

So we may all be rationally ignorant, but at least some of us have strong opinions and are proud of them. See you at the polls!