In advance of the election for County Sheriff, Edward and Mike are discussing the different candidates. Edward states: "I haven’t really researched the positions and backgrounds of the two people running. In order to do so properly I would have to invest a great deal of time, and, after all, the chance of my vote deciding the election is very small and I don’t think things will be very different for me regardless of who wins." His statement is closely related to the issue of:______________

In advance of the election for County Sheriff, Edward and Mike are discussing the different candidates. Edward states: "I haven’t really researched the positions and backgrounds of the two people running. In order to do so properly I would have to invest a great deal of time, and, after all, the chance of my vote deciding the election is very small and I don’t think things will be very different for me regardless of who wins." His statement is closely related to the issue of rational ignorance.

Explanation:

Rational ignorance:

Man voter- citizens choose to be uninformed about politics and government because the benefits of becoming informed are often outweighed by the costs of becoming informed.
Many persons believe that becoming informed is simply not worth the effort.
On an individual basis, it makes sense to be uninformed about politics and government, to be in a state of rational ignorance.

Hence, as in the given scenario, in advance of the election for County Sheriff, Edward and Mike are discussing the different candidates. Edward states: "I haven’t really researched the positions and backgrounds of the two people running. In order to do so properly I would have to invest a great deal of time, and, after all, the chance of my vote deciding the election is very small and I don’t think things will be very different for me regardless of who wins." His statement is closely related to the issue of rational ignorance.