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Political knowledge today is studied primarily at the explicit level. Measures of political knowledge often rely on testing whether voters are aware of various "facts" about political life, such as the names and offices of prominent political actors, the institutional structures of the political system, and the ideological or policy differences between the major political parties (e.g., Delli Carpini and Keeter 1996). These various kinds of political information are considered to be important by political scientists and other social scientists because they facilitate the informed voting decisions that are needed to hold elected leaders accountable (e.g., Lau and Redlawsk 2006; Pande 2011).

Using Polish panel data from 1998, 2003, and 2008, I examine people's knowledge of the governing parties of the Sejm in 2003. I focus on ability, opportunity, and motivation to explain political knowledge. I also examine the effects of knowledge on changes in political attitudes and behaviors from 2003 to 2008. Major sources of political knowledge are prior political interest and the change in interest from 1998 to 2003, political experience, and cognitive ability. There also exists a substantial gender gap in knowledge. Finally, political knowledge leads to changes in political interest, alienation, democratic attitudes, and voting behavior.

Since the language of political inquiry seems to be inescapably metaphorical, the question necessarily arises as to how metaphors of various types, including models, enter into the composition and expression of political knowledge. The solutions that have been most influential in contemporary political science can be called the verificationist and constitutivist views of political metaphor. While both views contain important elements of truth, there are fundamental difficulties in each that require the search for a more satisfactory view. An alternative view of metaphor and political knowledge is developed by reference to four main problems: Why is political speech metaphorical? How do metaphors make political things manifest? How are political metaphors tested? and Are metaphors indispensable to political expression and political knowledge?

AbstractSurvey research shows that voters know very little about politics. Left unexamined is whether political knowledge is a distinct type of knowledge when compared to other subjects. We seek to establish a baseline by putting political knowledge into a broader context. We show that our respondents' knowledge about politics is similar in construction to their knowledge about other subjects, such as shopping, sports, popular culture, geography, economics, and the rules of the road. We conclude that knowledge of politics largely resides on the same dimension as other knowledge topics, implying that knowledge of politics is not a unique construct.

This article assesses the impact of political knowledge on electoral choice during the 2001 British election. It explores the impact of knowledge of what party platforms say about taxation, privatization, & Europe on the relationships between respondents' positions on these issues & their voting behavior. The results show that knowledge does in fact affect how people vote. This was especially evident for all issues in the contrast between voting for the Conservatives & voting for the Liberal Democrats. On the other hand, knowledge about party positions on taxation & privatization had little effect on the contrast between voting Labour & voting Liberal Democrat. However, knowledge of party positions on Europe, an issue about which voters would have difficulty finding effective shortcuts, did have a significant impact on all vote choices. A practical political implication of these findings is that the Liberal Democrats seem to benefit when voters are knowledgeable, suggesting that their performance at the polls could be improved with greater exposure. 3 Tables, 3 Figures, 30 References. Adapted from the source document.

This paper analyses, and examines the interpretation of, sex differences in political knowledge as measured in the context of nationally representative British surveys. The paper discusses the construction and operationalisation of 'knowledge' measures in survey research. British survey research finds striking sex differences in scores on political knowledge items. The inclusion of contextual variables, and of interactions between sex and other relevant variables, attenuates but does not eliminate consistent sex differences.

This study looks at the question of which domain-specific concepts regarding politics children already understand and to what extent a naïve theory of politics can be postulated. It shows that even children in first grade have political knowledge that becomes increasingly differentiated throughout their time in elementary school. Fourth graders' knowledge is more elaborate than that of first graders. The migrant background of children has a negative influence on political knowledge. No gender-specific differences in knowledge are found.

In this article, I examine how 9/11 and the subsequent efforts to combat terrorism have affected what people know about politics. My analysis suggests three main differences between knowledge before and after 9/11. First, knowledge of 9/11 and the "war on terrorism" shot up to uncommonly high levels, just as common sense and our theories would predict. The second point is less intuitive: Heightened interest spread to issues not directly related to the terrorist attacks and appears to have increased knowledge of politics more broadly. Finally, a comparison between knowledge related to 9/11 and general political knowledge reveals that some of the usual obstacles to learning did not matter in the aftermath of 9/11. A low sense of civic duty, lack of faith in government responsiveness, and a full-time job all kept people from getting informed about politics in general, but not from learning about the terrorist attacks and the war on terrorism.