An understanding of statistics wouldn't realistically change all of these things. In practice, people can always be swayed by a powerful rhetoric, emotions, and cultural habit. Statistics lend more weight to arguments, but only a tiny fraction of people will go back and verify a statistic for accuracy.
While it is true that many people vote due to social pressure, I suspect that this social pressure would decrease with a better understanding of probability and statistics.
You could try mandatory voting, but people could just vote randomly to avoid wasting any time thinking about the matter.
I disagree, I think once people understood voting they would be much less tolerant of the government acting in anyway and would require massive majorities to get anything done.
* People would follow healthier lifestyles.
* People would avoid gambling.
* People would avoid bad marriages.
* The government would be more efficient.
An understanding of statistics wouldn't realistically change all of these things. In practice, people can always be swayed by a powerful rhetoric, emotions, and cultural habit. Statistics lend more weight to arguments, but only a tiny fraction of people will go back and verify a statistic for accuracy.