Political Participation
Why Do People Vote?
Today
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Forms of political participation
Explaining the individual decision to
vote or abstain
Start With Some Definitions . .
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Political Efficacy
Social Capital
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Social capital flows from “civic
engagement”
Specific forms of social capital:
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Norms of trust, reciprocity, and connectedness
Information
Efficacy
Definition of “Participation”
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“acts that aim at influencing the
government, either by affecting the
choice of government personnel or by
affecting the choices made by
government personnel” (Verba and Nie,
1972)
Influencing who gets elected
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Voting
Threshold activity (most people who
don’t vote don’t participate at all)
Voting as a threshold activity
People who vote
People who engage
in other forms of
participation
Influencing who gets elected
(campaign participation)
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Voting
Threshold activity (most people who
don’t vote don’t participate at all)
What if you want to do more?
Or if you can’t vote??
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Not a U.S. citizen
Not yet 18
Convicted of a felony
Influencing who gets elected:
Beyond Voting
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Donating money
Volunteering for a campaign
Signs / buttons / bumper stickers / t-shirts
Convincing your friends
Attending a rally
Registering people to vote
Participating in caucuses / primaries
Influencing what they do once
they’re in office
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Focus on causes or issues
Groups
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Rallies
Boycotts
Litigation
Individuals
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Writing letters/phoning/e-mailing
Signs and bumper stickers
Civil disobedience
Important things to remember
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Voting may be the single most
important act of political participation
(why?) but
There are many, many other ways to
participate, many of which are open to
everyone (regardless of eligibility to
vote)
Turning Now to Voting . . .
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First thing you need is the right to vote
Also called “the franchise”
History of the franchise
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Colonial era
Early 1800s
1870: 15th Amendment, but . . .
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Poll taxes
Literacy tests
History of the franchise, cont.
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1920: 19th Amendment extended right to
vote to women
1924: Snyder Act extended U.S. citizenship
to all Native Americans and brought them
under the 15th Amendment
1961: 23rd Amendment gives D.C. residents
right to vote for president
1964: 24th Amendment prohibited poll taxes
1971: 26th Amendment extended voting
rights to everyone over 18
Who is still officially
disenfranchised?
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Citizens under 18
Felons
Resident aliens and illegal immigrants
But among those who *can* vote, why
do some choose not to?
Pre-1990s Scholarship
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Two camps
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Rational choice theorists
“Demographic predictor” researchers
Rational Choice Theory
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People have preferences
Act to maximize those
preferences/utility
Constrained by
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Resources
Information
What other people do
Anthony Downs, “An Economic
Theory of Democracy” (1957)
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People vote if (P*B) – C > 0
Benefit
Discounted by Probability of Getting
Benefit
Cost
Good theory, bad prediction
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“Predicts” that rational people never vote
Possible “fix”
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Focus on different benefits . . . Psychic benefits,
“duty”
Turnout not always sensitive to changes in
costs
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National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter Act)
of 1993) increased registration but not turnout
BUT what about effects of “same day
registration”?
2004 Total Turnout Rates for
Voting Eligible Population
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Minnesota: 77.21%
Wisconsin: 76.19%
Maine: 73.37%
Possible explanations:
Law
High Turnout
Law
Civic Culture
High Turnout
Other Camp
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Demographic people are able to predict
behavior based on characteristics
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Education
SES
Race
Age
But, they don’t really explain why people vote
(description rather than explanation)
So . . .
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One camp is developing explanations
that don’t do a good job of describing
actual behavior
The other camp is developing
descriptions but not bothering to
explain the “why” question
Civic Voluntarism Model
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Henry Brady, Sidney Verba and Kay
Lehman Schlozman
“Voice and Equality”
Civic Voluntarism Model
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Interest/Engagement
Mobilization/Recruitment
Resources
Interest/Engagement
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interest in politics
political efficacy (“I can make a difference, I
can participate effectively”)
sense of civic duty (“It’s my job as an
American to participate”)
group consciousness (“As my community
goes, so go I”)
party identification
commitment to personal issues
What might affect
interest/engagement?
Mobilization/Recruitment
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Being asked to participate
What increases chances of recruitment?
Resources
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Time
Money
“Civic skills”
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Organizational skills
Language skills
Social adeptness
What increases resources?
Implications for Civic
Voluntarism Model
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“Equal opportunity” not all that equal
Importance of social capital and group
membership
Importance of “political entrepreneurs” –
politicians and groups that mobilize people
Importance of childhood experiences (family
life, education) in adult political behavior