Part of the explanation may be that most voters have a poor understanding of how the political system works and how it is tilted in favor of the economic elite. As Gilens and Page emphasize, their evidence does not imply that government policy makes the average citizen worse off.
部分原因也许在于大部分选民并不能很好地理解政治制度是如何作用的，也不理解政治制度是如何为经济精英服务的。吉伦斯和佩奇强调，他们的证据并不表明政府政策让普通公民的境况变坏了。普通公民常常确实能够获得他们想要的，这是因为他们的偏好往往与精英阶层相似。这两个群体的偏好的相关性使得选民很难察觉政客的歧视。