7: Political Participation Activating the Popular Will

Voter Participation Political participation: involvement in activities intended to influence public policy and leadership Suffrage: the right to vote States initially limited suffrage Only white men who owned property could vote By the 1840s most property restrictions had been removed

Voter Participation (2) Franchise was progressively expanded African American men: Fifteenth Amendment (1870) Black voting suppressed with intimidation, literacy tests, etc. Last legal barriers to voting were removed in the 1960s Women: Nineteenth Amendment (1920) Young adults: Twenty-Sixth Amendment (1971) Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18

Figure 7-1 Mississippi Voter Registration (1950s) Through intimidation, poll taxes, and rigged literacy tests, the state of Mississippi kept all but a small number of its black residents from registering to vote. Source: Estimated by the author from multiple sources.

Figure 7-2 Voter Turnout for Selected Countries The United States ranks near the bottom among the world’s democracies in terms of the percentage of its eligible citizens who vote. Percentages here are rounded averages of recent national elections. Source: Developed by the author from multiple sources.

Factors in Voter Turnout: The United States in Comparative Perspective Voter turnout: proportion who vote Roughly 60 percent in presidential elections Below 50 percent for midterm congressional elections Registration: putting one’s name on the official list of eligible voters Historically, implemented to eliminate multiple voting Voter turnout correlates to the ease of registration Federal government tried to help with the Motor Voter law New barriers to voting: voter ID cards Discourages voter turnout Some state laws have been struck down; others upheld

Factors in Voter Turnout: The United States in Comparative Perspective (2) Frequency of elections is another burden on voters Numerous off-cycle elections at state and local levels Direct primary voting adds to election congestion Americans are asked to vote two or three times as often as Europeans

Why Some Americans Vote and Others Do Not Education and income: college-educated and upper-income Americans have above average voting rates Age: young adults are substantially less likely to vote Civic attitudes Apathy: a lack of interest in politics Alienation: a feeling of powerlessness rooted in the belief that government ignores one’s interests Civic duty: a sense that one ought to participate Political interest and party identification: party identifiers turn out at a higher rate

The Effect of Voter Turnout Americans who identify with the Republicans have increasingly called themselves conservatives whereas those who identify with the Democratic Party have increasingly labeled themselves as liberals. One significance of this trend is that conservatives and liberals are more likely than moderates to vote. Source: Pew Research Center poll, 2014.

Conventional Forms of Participation Other Than Voting Voting is the most widespread form of political participation Limited form in that citizens have the opportunity only at a particular time and only for the choices on the ballot Other forms of participation include campaigning and lobbying, “virtual” participation, and community activities

Campaign and Lobbying Activities Campaign participation rates are substantially higher in the United States than in Europe American campaign season is longer Federal system has more elections Americans are more likely to support the activities of political groups Monetary contributions Contacting lawmakers Participation in multiple groups

Virtual Participation Political participation on the Internet may not be face-to-face, but much of it involves contact with friends, acquaintances, and activists Especially, through social media Peaks during presidential campaigns Internet fundraising is also flourishing Many groups have built extensive online organizations Online activists and grassroots lobbying

Community Activities Social capital: face-to-face interactions between people that contribute to a sense of community and foster civic cooperation Americans’ community involvement is substantially higher than Europeans’ Larger role of organized religion is one component Opportunities to get involved in local government are also more numerous Chief obstacle to participation is motivation Roughly 25 percent of American adults participate in community activities annually

Groups: “A Nation of Joiners” “A nation of joiners” is how Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville described the United States during his writing tour of this country in the 1830s. Even today, Americans are more fully involved in groups than are Europeans. Jump to long image description Source: World Values Survey Association, 2012.

Jump to long image description Volunteer Activity The rate of volunteering varies considerably within the United States. Utah has the highest volunteer rate: 46 percent of its residents 16 years of age or older are engaged yearly in community volunteer work. Louisiana, at 17 percent, ranks lowest. Jump to long image description Source: Corporation for National and Community Service, 2016.

Unconventional Activism: Social Movements and Protest Politics Protest was common in the predemocratic era Political movements, or social movements, are a way for citizens disenchanted with government policy to actively express their opposition These movements take place largely outside established political institutions Civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s Today: Black Lives Matter Political movements often fail to achieve their goals

The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street Protest Movements Tea Party came to the public’s attention on April 15, 2009, in opposition to high taxes Large majority of protestors were Republican, and Tea Party became a strong force within the Republican Party Ultimately played a key role in the Republican takeover of the House in 2010 Unwillingness to compromise contributed to deadlock and legislative turmoil Movement’s public support has declined

The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street Protest Movements (2) Like the Tea Party, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement started with anger at established interests Emerged in 2011 Began as a protest against a bailout of the financial industry and the government’s failure to hold bankers accountable Has seen its popular support decline because of the public’s unease with protesters confronting police OWS’s target was private wealth and it aimed to curb the political influence of large political donors

Figure 7-3 Support for Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street The Tea Party attracted stronger support among Republicans while Occupy Wall Street was backed more fully by Democrats. Source: Pew Research Center polls, February 2010 (Tea Party) and December 2011 (Occupy Wall Street).

The Next Political Movements? Presidential campaign of 2016 was unique in part because of the rise of two anti-establishment politicians Independent Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary Republican Donald Trump, the eventual party nominee and 45th president of the United States Political movements grow out of unaddressed issues Trump and Sanders campaigns may both represent an indictment of the ruling elites in the U.S.

The Public’s Response to Protest Activity Political protests have a long history in America Americans are, however, less likely to protest than citizens in other Western democracies Public support for protest activity is relatively low

Participation and the Potential for Influence Emphasis on individualism in American culture diminishes political participation Lower-income Americans are least likely to vote or participate politically Lack of resources and lower education levels are factors Participation reflects one’s socioeconomic level Pattern of political influence in the U.S. parallels the distribution of economic influence

Figure 7-4 Voter Registration and Income Level Americans of lower income are much less likely to vote than those of higher income. Fifty-three percent of those with incomes in the lowest 20% are registered to vote, whereas 84% of those with incomes in the highest 20% are registered. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014.

Critical Thinking How do alienation, apathy, and civic duty differ? Compare voting rates in the United States with those in Europe. Why are they lower in the United States? Then compare community participation rates in the United States with those in Europe. Why are they higher in the United States? Why does economic status—differences in Americans’ education and income levels—make such a large difference in their level of political participation? Why does it make a larger difference in the United States than in Europe?

Long image descriptions Appendix A

Groups: “A Nation of Joiners” Appendix Where in the U.S., 18% of the population belong to no groups, in Germany that proportion is 33%; in Great Britain, 46%; in Italy, 49%; and in France, 61% belong to no groups. Where in the U.S. 63% of the population belong to 1–3 groups, in Germany that proportion is 60%; in Great Britain, 45%; in Italy, 40%; and in France, 35%. Where in the U.S. 19% of the population belong to 4 or more groups, in Germany that proportion is 7%; in Great Britain, 9%; in Italy, as little as 1%; and in France, just 4% belong to 4 or more groups. Jump back to slide containing original image

Volunteer Activity Appendix The states in which 35% or more of the adult population engage in volunteering include Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin. 26% to 34.9% of the adult population engage in volunteering in the District of Columbia and the states of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. The states in which less than 26% of the adult population engage in volunteering include California, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. Jump back to slide containing original image