[EM] simple definition of Schulze method?

[James Gilmour]

> 2009/6/4 James Gilmour <jgilmour at globalnet.co.uk>
> Markus, UK electors have no hope of understanding that 
> question at all after any campaign, never mind not instantly. 
>  And of those who would vote, large numbers would go to vote 
> with very little prior information.
> 
> Just two weeks before polling day for the 2007 elections to 
> the Scottish Parliament ONLY ONE-THIRD of electors were able 
> to say correctly which political parties had ministers in the 
> Scottish Executive that had been running the country for the 
> previous four years.  19% said they did not know, and the 
> rest gave wrong answers.  The level of political knowledge 
> among the electors must not be over-estimated  -  it is 
> almost certainly a lot lower than most of us would like to 
> think.  And I suspect Scotland and the UK are not unique in that.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Árpád Magosányi [mailto:magwas at rabic.org] 
> This is the "people are dumb" reasoning, which I believe is 
> false. Irish voters needed a year of brainwash to came close 
> to change their opinion on EU constitution. We cannot be 
> grateful to them enough for that "no". After that you can 
> tell me anything, I will know that they know what they are 
> doing. As Chomsky said, most of us are able to speak 
> fluently, so we should be able to understand anything. Our 
> political system is built in a way which discourages people 
> to pay attention?  People are feed with bullshit instead of 
> the real questions? These are the problems, not the people.

I am sorry but you cannot dismiss the facts in this way.  We are constantly told that purpose of any election is to give the voters
the opportunity to "Kick the rascals out".  In political-science-speak, the most salient feature of any election is which party or
parties form the current government.  Then the voters can decide whether they want to keep that government or kick that government
out.  But if you are going to do that in any sensible way when you cast your vote, you first need to know which party or parties
form the current government.  In Scotland in the middle of April 2007, just two weeks before polling day, after three weeks of the
intensive election campaign, and after many months of less intensive campaigning (as our elections are held on fixed dates), only
ONE-THIRD of electors could correctly identify the parties in the government.  Even if they knew nothing else about politics, surely
they would know that  - the most salient feature of the election?  But NO, the hard evidence is that they did not, and to a
staggering extent.

Of course, the challenge is to those who have a message they want to get across.  But in devising ways to get the message across, I
say again, do not over-estimate the political knowledge or understanding of the electors.  Do not take my word for that  -  look at
the evidence quoted from the SES survey of 1,871 electors (a very large survey by all normal standards).  And similarly, do not
over-estimate the average reading age  -  even in "literate" countries the average reading age is much lower then you might think or
like to think.  Harsh, unpleasant realities, but realities nonetheless.

James Gilmour

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