Ignorance is Bliss; Especially For Rosa DeLauro

During elections it is essential for Congressional Candidates to understand that the average voter does not know much about political affairs. The majority of voters are rationally ignorant, which means they do not want to waste or energy researching the candidates because the cost of doing so outweighs the benefits. This is considered rational because one should not do anything where the bad outweighs the good.  Instead voter may rely on contact with the candidates, recall and familiarity, and Partisanship to help guide their decision. The candidate who is more capable to take advantage of this trend among voters will increase his or her chances at victory. It looks like in the congressional race between Rosa DeLauro and Jerry Labriola; DeLauro is the one with the most knowledge of voter behavior.

It seems as if Rosa DeLauro has benefited the most from the voters reluctance to research political affairs while her opponent voters Jerry Labriola has drastically lagged behind. According to The Politics of Congressional Elections by Gary C. Jacobson, Voters like candidates who attempt to make contact with them. This can be through mail, a telephone call, or personal contact. DeLauro is better known than Labriola because over the years she has made the effort make contact with all the voters either one way or another. Also because Rosa DeLauro has managed to avoid any major scandals she has not attracted much attention from the popular media so any information the voters get about her comes directly from her office. So the only negative information that voters have about DeLauro must come from the Labriola campaign.

Recall and familiarity is also a prime factor at the polls. Voters need to be able recall the candidates and also become familiar with them. The more familiar the voters are with candidates the more likely they are to determine what they think about the candidate. DeLauro is also privileged in this category because the people are more familiar with her. Also they are more likely to recall what they like about her rather than what they like about Labriola. Lastly the major factor that is going to put DeLauro over the top is partisanship. It is no secret that Connecticut is a Democratic State. Most of the people never vote against the party consequently, I do not see Republican Jerry Labriola getting close to the number of supporters DeLauro has gained through just party affiliation.