This essay challenges the argument that most citizens are susceptible to elite and media manipulation because they are too uninformed to reason about public policy. We challenge the view that citizens rarely engage in reasoning about public policy, and thus are moved mainly by media and elite influences (Bennett 1988; Converse 1964; Price and Zaller 1993; Zaller 1992). Such an argument views citizens as having nothing resembling “true” opinions on issues of public policy. When faced with opinion questions on a survey, respondents merely answer mechanically from the “top of their head” without thinking, reasoning, or deliberating (Zaller 1992: 45; Zaller and Feldman 1992).

A citizen's defense against elite and media influence and manipulation is what Converse (1964) called “constraint”: People reject elite and media arguments that are inconsistent with their ideological or partisan predispositions. Unfortunately, however, only a small minority are viewed as sufficiently attentive and informed to recognize whether the messages are consistent or inconsistent with their partisan and ideological (liberal-conservative) leanings. Such cues fly over the head of most other people, and as Zaller (1992: 311) states: