Do you think that the average voting American understands the issues being promulgated by the two major political parties.
If they understand their own principals...then yes they do. If they consider themselves a moderate or in the middle---then they are clueless. The only truely principaled---in the middle---people are Libertarians.
The average guy in the street can barely tie his shoes without assistance. Understanding politics is way down the list after beer, women and football...in fact I doubt the average guy cares who is in charge as long as he has the three previously mentioned items.
I think the answer is in between. Voters will tend to care about and know more about issues that personally affect their lives. Farmers probably know more about agriculture policy then people who live in a city, who in turn, probably know more about issues that relate to cities and populations than farmers may. Then you'll have some who don't pay attention at all, for whatever reason, and also the people for whom politics is their "sports".
Having lived in the US for twenty years, I can say that there is almost no discussion of policies on the main news networks. Candidates for election spend their whole time attacking their opponents rather than expounding their policies. Since I moved back to the UK, I have really noticed how much more is in the news about politics. We are so much better informed over here, not only about UK politics but also about US politics.
The masses of americans are simple minded, and only do what they are told. The media and their culture cause most of them to be ignorant. After all, the masses are not intellegen, they lack the cognitive ability to assess and evaluate information. and they get all excited over BS that plays no part in their life. Also, the broadcast media manipulates and sells the masses BS on a regular basis. And with the masses being too stupid to understand they are being played, they just follow along like religious drones worshiping a lie and BS that doesn't exist. And they cant think because they were dumbed down to not question authority. Remember, the masses of idiots will always take the easy way out. Rather than think on their own, they want someone to tell them what to think. Hence the easy manipulation of the broadcast media and their editing and filtering. Exclusion and inclusion of BS propagand.
It's so easy to assume everyone is an idiot. It's the wrong assumption to have. There will be some ignorant people in any group, sure, but you have no way of knowing how many of the people are as you describe. Just seems like saying that kind of thing is a cop out rather than having to accept the fact that people disagree with you.
You are correct in some way, but given the factors of the USA public schools systems, the lame production of university students who buy their education, the fact that religious groups have a influence on the masses, how the broadcast meida manipulates the masses, and that the majority voted for Boooooosh not once but twice shows me that most americans are ignorant. You would think that Americans can learn, but knowing the psychology and cognitive ability of most americans based on their demographics show that you can evaluate the masses and come to a predictable outcome that most Americans are functioning at a 8th grade level, and are easy to manipulate.
In Canada it's estimated that only 30% of the population is tuned in to what's happening in politics, the other 70% just go about their daily business in a fog...that 70% becomes a target for political parties at election time, the political parties target individual demographics within that 70%, with issues that matter to them alone in order to acquire their vote, they'll latch on to "catch phrases" and "talking points" that matter only to them and will base they're vote on that...that 70% is generally oblivious to all the issues of the day...
You can fool all of the people some of the time, and you can fool some of the people all of the time, but if you can fool enought of the people enough of the time you are home free. Apparently the best way to do that is with simplistic talking points and negative attack ads.