Its not a matter of being ill-informed, rather I do not give a hoot what the trends say on any subject. Trends are meaningless to my point of view. When I vote, I am by myself in a booth, and not sharing it with any group, party or belief system. I don't care what they think. Of course most of my votes don't seem to win, but that's a different matter altogether. I consider voting an extremely private thing. I never participate in exit polls, more often, "I tell them where to go", when they ask me how I voted.
I am Republican based on certain core beliefs, but for the most part the larger agenda Republicans have aren't a part of my agenda.
Since I'm also not a libertarian, nor a communist, truly there is no party that represents me, but then I'm not really looking for a party. A party of one is all I need to vote.
I'm not a person who seeks out others who think like me, to the point that I don't share my beliefs with anyone, so no one would know if they think like me, and I don't ask what they think as well. I like people in general, but don't require those people to think like me.