Low Information Voter (LIV)

A “low information voter” (LIV) is someone who doesn’t follow politics closely, but votes on a candidate’s perceived likability and public persona. The term “low information voter” was first used in Implications of Changes in Information Processing and Communications Technology for the Governing Function (1971) by Ronald D. Brunner and John P. Crecine.
 
The term “low information” was popularized in The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns (1991) by Samuel L. Popkin, who wrote:
 
“The term low-information rationality — popularly known as ‘gut’ reasoning — best describes the kind of practical thinking about government and politics in which people actually engage. It is a method of combining, in an economical way, learning and information from past experiences, daily life, the media, and political campaigns.”
 
The initials “LIV” began to be popularly used during the presidential election year of 2008. The abbreviation “LoFo” became popular in 2013.
 
   
Wikipedia: Low information voter
Low information voters, also known as LIVs or misinformation voters, are people who may vote, but who are generally poorly informed about politics. The phrase is mainly used in the United States, and has become popular since the mid-nineties.
 
Origins
American pollster and political scientist Samuel Popkin coined the term “low-information” in 1991 when he used the phrase “low-information signaling” in his book The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns. Low-information signaling referred to cues or heuristics used by voters, in lieu of substantial information, to determine who to vote for. Examples include voters liking Bill Clinton for eating at McDonald’s, and perceiving John Kerry as elitist for saying wind-surfing was his favorite sport.
 
Google Books
Implications of Changes in Information Processing and Communications Technology for the Governing Function
By Ronald D. Brunner and John P. Crecine
Ann Arbor, MI: Institute of Public Policy Studies, the University of Michigan
1971
Pg. 27:
Partisan swings from congressional election to congressional election are far less than from Presidential election to Presidential election because they are less salient and the low- information voter seldom participates.
Pg. 28:
The trend in information and communication technology, by providing for far greater accessibility to political information on TV and radio at a more superficial level (spoken media vs. written) would, in the short run, seem to provide some information to an increasing number of “low- information” voters, thus creating greater oscillation in voting outcomes. In the long run, the greater availability of political information may transform a large number of “low- information” voters to voters who have more developed and, hence, stable attitudes.
   
Google Books
Information Technology;
Some Critical Implications for Decision Makers
Conference Board
The Conference Board
1972  
Pg. 162:
The trend in information and communication technology, by providing for far greater accessibility to political information on TV and radio at a more superficial level (spoken media vs. written) would, in the short run, seem to provide some information to an increasing number of “low- information” voters, thus creating greater oscillation in voting outcomes. In the long run, the greater availability of political information may transform a large number of “low-information” voters to voters who have more developed, and, hence, stable attitudes.
 
Google Books 
Newsweek
Volume 115
1990
Pg. 176:
While some political consultants see flag-burning as the perfect way to reach the “low information” voter, others believe you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
 
Google Books
The Reasoning Voter:
Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns
By Samuel L. Popkin
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
1991
Pg. 7:
The term low-information rationality — popularly known as “gut” reasoning — best describes the kind of practical thinking about government and politics in which people actually engage. It is a method of combining, in an economical way, learning and information from past experiences, daily life, the media, and political campaigns.
 
Google Books
American Public Opinion:
Its Origins, Content, and Impact
By Robert S. Erikson and Kent L. Tedin
Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon
1995
Pg. 255:
In 1988, for example, low-information voters were more supportive of winner Bush than were high-information voters.
 
31 October 1998, Washington (DC) Times, “Broadcast broadside outguns Democrats”:
“Low-information voters or non-attentive voters do not begin making up their minds until the last two or three weeks of an election.”
 
IntelliBriefs
FEBRUARY 21, 2008
Jargon Buster : ‘Low information voters’
Source: OXFORD ANALYTICA
(...) Yet despite the hoopla, perhaps the most important segment of the electorate will not be tuning in: ‘low information voters’ (LIVs).
 
Pollsters use the term to describe those voters who are the least ‘information aware’, and who are therefore the least susceptible to ‘momentum politics’—or recent media trends in favour of a particular candidate: ...
 
Democratic Underground
Bozita
Fri Oct-03-08 01:06 PM
Joe Sixpack is the polite name for LIVs. (Low Information Voters)
 
29 October 2008, The Gazette (Wellsboro, PA), “Letters,” pg. 4-A, col. 5:
Rather, it is the possibility that what the highly respected Newsweek columnist John Alter calls our LIVs—low information voters—will determine the outcome of our presidential election.
(Charles S. Keller, Wellsboro—ed.)
 
RushLimbaugh.com
Call from a Former Low-Info Voter
January 15, 2013
RUSH: Mr. Snerdley just asked me a question. He said, “You know, you’re addressing low-information voters in the low-information voter community, and then you’re speaking to them. Do you think maybe it’s kind of counterproductive? Do you think you might be offending them by denoting them that way, calling them out?” I said, “No. A low-information voter doesn’t have enough information to know that he or she is in that community. They think I’m talking about somebody else.”
 
RushLimbaugh.com
Executive Orders Explained for Low-Information Voters
January 15, 2013
RUSH: Joe Biden, the vice president of the United States.  Now, we were told last week that Biden was heading up a commission made up of administration officials and cabinet officials on what to do about guns and the increasing proliferation of guns.