If political scientists have a mission, it should be to address the problems of an increasingly disaffected, ill-informed and cynical electorate.

If the members of the 103d Congress find themselves confronted with a cynical electorate back home, they have only themselves to blame.

The very low Kabul figures could also partly reflect a better educated and more cynical and disillusioned electorate.

But he knows his biggest challenge will be to convince a cynical electorate that government can be part of the city's solutions, and not the root of its negative image.

But in seasons like this, candidates get pushed to specificity; it is the only way to reach a cynical electorate, many political professionals argue.

This cynical electorate, ironically enough, can exact a terrible price for breaking the unrealistic promises it demands.

And it is these largely unknown strategists, ad gurus and pollsters who have been charged with selling Mr. Corzine and Mr. Forrester to an increasingly cynical electorate.

Strong Congress Victory Unlikely According to some polls and interviews with voters, an uncharacteristically subdued, often cynical electorate is still studying the alternatives offered by the opposition.

The panel said news organizations' focus on campaign tactics over substance and candidates' use of negative and manipulative advertising had encouraged a "cynical, passive and uninformed" electorate.

A politician hit with a negative had the burden of proof to establish his innocence in front of a cynical electorate.