> voters are not individual agents but rather a mob subject to manipulation by propaganda

Who is even saying this is not true? The United States government is more aware than maybe anyone else that influencing human opinion and action is a statistical problem once you have enough scale.

Just look at the history of the USIA [1] and its successor the USICA.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Information_Agen...