1. If all you know is the state of the economy, you know pretty well how the incumbent party will do
2. The Will of the People is Incredibly Hard to Put Your Finger on
3. The Will of The People May Not Even Exist
4. There Is No Such Thing As A Mandate
5.The simple-majority single-ballot system favours the two-party system
6.Policy disagreements happen because people disagree about policy
7.A majority of independents act like partisans when it comes time to vote
8.The most important distinction is not between special and general interests, but between organized interests
9. Question how much the leaders represent the people who are protesting
10. Scientists really don't really know about:
2. Money buys the votes of elected legislators. (Maybe savvy donors just donate to candidates who will vote the way they would like, and not to those who would not.)
3. Parties influence the votes of elected legislators. (Maybe politicians just sort themselves into the parties they agree with in the first place.)
4. Some candidates are just better campaigners than others.
5. Democracy leads to economic growth. (Maybe economic growth enables democracy. Or maybe they are spuriously related.)
6. Autocracy leads to economic growth. (Maybe economic performance enables dictators to hold onto power.)
7. The media is biased. (Maybe they are just trying to tell us what they think we want to hear.)
8. Voters make choices based on their own self-interest. (Maybe they rationalize their choices in this way.)
9. Voters choose the candidate that is closer to their own preferences.
10. People are more likely to vote when they think the election will be close.
11. And at least one political scientist, probably many, will insist that some number of the previous nine items also belong on this list