Voting and Political Participation
Similarly, women used to participate less than men, but these differences also have largely diminished.
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Social capital - the degree of civic connectedness within a political community.
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Socioeconomic status (SES) - the combination of education, occupation, and income that can be used to gauge one's position in society.
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Socioeconomic status is a good predictor of the likelihood that an individual will engage in conventional political participation.
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Some activities require more resources and interest than others. As such, the degree to which Americans participate in the political process and the types of activities they engage in vary widely.
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Some people contend that government is only democratic if all citizens are directly involved in policymaking.
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Sometimes the decision to cast a vote for a particular candidate is related to factors other than party loyalty, issue positions, or candidate characteristics.
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State and local governments in the U.S. have responded to concerns about the time constraints imposed on voters by offering absentee voting and convenience voting. Absentee voting permits a voter to request and return a ballot through the mail.
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Such actions can include participation in demonstrations, protests, strikes, boycotts, or sit-ins. In rare instances, unconventional participation can be taken to the extreme, as in the case of terrorist activities aimed at sending a political message.
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The 2004 presidential election season, in which Democratic candidate John Kerry provided an abundance of information about his military experience in Vietnam as a soldier and his voting record against the war in Iraq. Despite claiming that the war in Iraq was unethical, poorly managed, and almost unwinnable, Kerry also advocated for an American presence in the foreign nation. The abundance of speeches he made on the Iraq War left many voters uncertain of his policy intentions and increasingly perplexed as to his stance on war in general.
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The 2008 election was a watershed event in American politics. With a campaign focused on bringing hope to the American people and change to American politics, Barack Obama became the first African American elected president of the United States. A groundswell of popular support for this Democratic candidate had led media and pundits to expect record levels of voter turnout on election day in 2008, but in the end, the turnout mirrored that of the 2004 election cycle. Approximately 131 million Americans, or 64 percent of all registered voters, participated in the presidential election.
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The ancient Athenian system of democracy, found in Greece around 500 BCE, has come the closest to this ideal. In that system, citizens voted directly on all issues of government.
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The electoral system established by the U.S. Constitution also affects the likelihood that a voter will cast a winning ballot, which may have the effect of depressing voter turnout.
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The ratification of the 26th Amendment expanded the franchise to citizens aged 18, 19, and 20, who are members of the group least likely to participate in elections: 18- to 24-year-olds. By contrast, those over the age of 65 are the most likely to participate in elections.
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Though this might sound very similar to the governmental structure of the United States today, Rome also retained a prominent aristocracy that exercised a great deal of power over political matters.
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To prevent the loss of potential support, presidential campaigns strategically select running mates who can attract voters from different geographic regions or racial groups. For politicians, this is known as balancing the ticket.
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To reduce the burden associated with re-registering to vote each time one moves, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also known as the Motor Voter Act. The legislation required state governments to allow eligible voters to register when applying for a driver's license or social services.
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Unconventional activities are typically used by marginalized groups that have been denied access to institutionalized modes of participation, but they are also used by groups seeking to attract awareness to their cause.
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Unconventional participation - political activity that takes place outside of established institutions and challenges cultural norms.
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Unconventional participation can threaten stability in a democratic system, so the national government often responds by attempting to redirect participation into more conventional and institutionalized channels.
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Voter fatigue - a phenomenon that occurs when voters lose interest in politics as a result of being asked to vote too frequently and on too many different issues.
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Voter registration and voting vary by socioeconomic status and by demographic group. In other words, people with less income and less education participate less in politics.
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Voter turnout has generally declined since the 1960s, and it remains lower in the U.S. than in many other industrialized nations.
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Voters also consider issues and candidate policy platforms when making political decisions.
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Voters are largely drawn to candidates who share their own demographic profile. When voters feel a sense of resemblance (whether it comes in the form of personal appearance or shared experience), they are more likely to trust political leaders and feel confident in their policy decisions.
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Voters tend to maintain their party attachments unless some major event or issue causes them to reexamine their party's positions.
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Voting, for instance, represents a form of conventional participation in that it is established by the Constitution and accepted by the mainstream culture.
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What determines whether voters think retrospectively or prospectively? Largely, the candidate's relationship to the contested seat shapes voter evaluations.
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What is responsible for declining turnout? Why are eligible voters not participating in politics? Several factors may be responsible for this trend. One ingredient in declining turnout may be the growing mobility of the American electorate.
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When about 600 civil rights activists attempted to peacefully march 50 miles from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery on March 7, 1965, Governor George Wallace declared the march illegal and dispatched state troopers to stop it. Despite the nonviolent nature of the march, the troopers responded with force. Marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma were attacked by police wielding nightsticks and tear gas, and officers on horseback charged into the crowd. As a result of the police brutality, the day became known as Bloody Sunday.
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When it comes to voter turnout in the United States, two trends stand out. The first is that voter turnout has generally declined since the 1960s. The second is that voter turnout in the U.S. remains lower than in other industrialized countries.
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When people are denied access to clearly established and culturally accepted channels of participation, they may instead engage in unconventional forms of participation.
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While demonstrations walk a fine line between conventional and unconventional behavior, boycotts and building occupations are definitely considered unconventional by Americans—most say they would not engage in either form of protest. Petitions, on the other hand, are viewed by Americans as a more conventional form of participation, with 97 percent suggesting that signing a petition is something they have done or would do.
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With the advent of television and the Internet, Americans are now choosing to spend their leisure time at home and alone. This shift in social networking venues from the physical to the virtual has profound implications for political awareness and participation in the United States.
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With the advent of television and the Internet, a candidate's personal characteristics have come to play a significant role in voters' decision-making processes. The predominant attributes that voters consider are the candidate's race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and background.
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Young people are more likely than older people to engage in unconventional forms of participation, but they are less likely to engage in conventional forms of participation, including voting.
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Presidents like John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama have enjoyed public support in part due to their speechmaking abilities and leadership qualities.
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Prospective voting - voter behavior that evaluates candidates based on forecasts of their future political behavior.
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Retrospective voting - voter behavior that evaluates candidates based on their experience or past performance.
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A fourth factor potentially responsible for declining voter turnout involves demographic differences in political participation.
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A second difference between the U.S. and other countries involves the voter registration process.
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A second factor, and one that is viewed as instrumental in the global decline in voter turnout, is the loss of social capital.
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A third difference between the U.S. and countries with higher levels of turnout is the electoral system in place, which can affect the frequency of elections, the length of election ballots, and the likelihood that a voter will cast a winning ballot.
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A third factor that might share responsibility for declining voter turnout is the way in which new media are being used by campaigns to reach voters.
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Advocates of mandatory voting highlight the fact that requiring everyone to participate in an election would lead to a more representative election outcome—one that truly reflects the preferences of all segments of society rather than just the preferences of the politically and socially advantaged.
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Although the First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees citizens the right to peaceable assembly, about a quarter of Americans say they would never attend a demonstration.
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Although voting is a low-initiative activity, only half of voting-age Americans cast a ballot in the 2004 presidential election.
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As television advertising and Internet publication have become the dominant forms of political communication the emphasis on door-to-door campaigning and personal appearances by candidates to shake hands with voters has declined.
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Balancing the ticket - the practice of presidential nominees selecting a running mate who broadens the public appeal of the campaign.
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Basing voting decisions on forecasts of future political behavior is known as prospective voting. This form of decision making requires voters to trust candidates to fulfill campaign promises and realize policy goals once elected.
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Because U.S. elections are more frequent and ballots are longer, they require more time, knowledge, and interest from the voter. This can lead to what is known as voter fatigue.
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Besides demographic characteristics, many candidate character traits also influence voters. These qualities include trustworthiness, intellect, prior service to the country, oratory skill, ability to empathize, and overall projection of power and strength.
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By contrast, when candidates provide detailed information about their policy objectives, they help voters to realize the ideological differences between election rivals. But such detailed information can also unveil the complexities of policy issues and leave voters confused.
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Candidate attributes may also repel many voters.
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Challenging cultural norms is a bold tactic that can be met with violent repression, as illustrated by an infamous episode of the civil rights movement.
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Citizens who consider issue positions when voting think about which candidates have policy preferences similar to their own. If campaigns are ambiguous on issues, then voters have difficulty making these evaluations.
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Comparatively speaking, voter turnout in the United States is lower than in a number of other countries with regular elections.
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Convenience voting (or early voting) allows voters to cast a ballot at various locations throughout their community during the weeks prior to an election.
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Conventional participation - culturally acceptable political activity that communicates preferences through established institutions.
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Conversely, many voters evaluate candidates based on their experience or past performance. Political scientists call this retrospective voting.
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Differences in voting laws and electoral systems among countries can account for this trend. One variation across countries involves the timing of elections and the time allowed for participating in elections.
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Education is the most important measure of socioeconomic status when it comes to predicting participation in conventional political activities.
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Even though party loyalty can have a profound impact on voters' decisions, partisanship has declined over the last 60 years.
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Finally, each country has a unique set of voting laws that affect their citizens' likelihood of voting.
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Finally, it is possible that declining voter turnout is due to generational effects.
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For several centuries, the government of Rome was based on a system of separated powers with accompanying checks and balances, and it contained such features as a constitution, a senate, courts, assemblies, and a complex bureaucracy.
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Franchise - the right to vote.
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Freedom Rides - during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, activists would ride public transportation (mainly buses) into the Southern states in order to protest racial segregation.
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Race, ethnicity, and gender have historically been associated with participation, but those relationships have changed over time. In the past, blacks were less likely than whites to participate, but today they participate at comparable rates when socioeconomic factors are taken into consideration.
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However, the voting public in 2008 looked significantly different from the voting public in 2004. The candidacy of Barack Obama managed to energize groups of voters who might not have participated otherwise. --Young adults (individuals between 18 and 24 years of age) went to the polls in greater numbers than ever before. --Among these young voters, African Americans showed the greatest boost in turnout—an increase of 8 percent over 2004 election turnout rates. --Overall, the voting rates for ethnic minorities increased by about 4 percent in the 2008 election.
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If you have ever voted in an election, signed a petition, participated in an interest-group activity, or sent an email to a government official, then you have engaged in political participation.
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In 2010, 16 percent of Americans identified themselves as pure independents, meaning that they refused to claim any affiliation with either the Democratic or Republican parties.[5] For those voters, and even for voters who strongly identify with a political party, other factors may play an important role in shaping vote choice.
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In addition to helping to explain why turnout is lower in the U.S. than in other countries, this phenomenon may also contribute to the lower turnout in midterm elections versus presidential elections. This 15-percent difference is due to the added national publicity and public interest surrounding presidential elections. Higher levels of information about elections tend to increase voter participation.
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In both forms of government rests the assumption that citizens will participate to some extent in their own governance.
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In today's information-drenched world, voters can more readily and easily learn a candidate's position on a variety of major issues.
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Incumbents who have held office during relatively prosperous times will likely emphasize their past record in order to appeal to voters' retrospective tendencies. On the other hand, incumbents who have held office during tumultuous times are more likely to make promises of future success in an attempt to appeal to voters' prospective tendencies.
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Midterm elections - federal elections occurring between presidential election years.
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Most Americans feel a strong affinity toward one of the two dominant political parties (Democrats and Republicans), and their vote choices tend to reflect that connection.
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Of course, unconventional participation does not always lead to the desired policy change. Anti-abortion protesters have succeeded in dissuading many doctors from performing abortions, but their actions have not resulted in national policy that bans abortions.
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Often, citizens simply consider whether they are better off financially than they were a few years ago. For this reason, the overall state of the economy is often a strong predictor of election outcomes. Put bluntly, people tend to vote with their wallets.
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One of the best predictors of presidential election outcomes is the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI). The CCI is calculated by the business research group Conference Board and based on surveys that ask voters about their prospective view of the economy. A score over 100 represents confidence in the economy—an atmosphere in which an incumbent candidate could expect voter support. A score under 100 represents relatively low confidence in the economy—an atmosphere in which an incumbent should fear voter retaliation.
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One's vote choice can be influenced by many different factors, but the three most influential are partisan loyalty, policy issues, and candidate characteristics.
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Opponents also maintain that certain citizens might have legitimate reasons for refusing to vote—some might be opposed to voting for religious reasons, while others might be satisfied with the system and simply lack interest in politics.
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Opponents of mandatory voting argue that elections should only be decided by those who care to be informed and to participate in the process.
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Other modern forms of conventional participation include contacting elected officials, working on election campaigns, associating with political parties or interest groups, and signing petitions.
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Others argue that a government can be considered democratic if people participate indirectly by electing representatives who act on their behalf. This form of government also has its roots in the ancient world—the Roman republic.
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Participation overall is low among Americans, but it is very low when it comes to high-initiative activities, which are those that require more resources and interest.
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Partisan identification frequently manifests itself through strong loyalty toward candidates, and it can serve as a useful shortcut when it comes to voting.
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People are most likely to be involved in politics if they have resources, interest, and an invitation.
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People base their voting decisions on multiple factors, especially partisan loyalty, policy issues, and candidate characteristics.
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People do not participate for three primary reasons: they cannot participate (they lack the necessary resources); they do not want to participate (they lack interest in politics); or nobody has asked them to participate (they have not been motivated).
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Political participation is essential in a democracy, but there is disagreement over how much and what kind of participation is necessary.
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Political participation simply refers to any kind of action that is aimed at changing or supporting government policy or officials.
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Political participation, whether conventional or unconventional, requires resources, interest, and motivation.
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Presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, on the other hand, appealed to some voters because of their perceived moral fortitude and ability to relate to the average American.
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