1. Political Participation
Chapter 8
Political Participation

2. Learning Objectives What is “political participation”?
How are voter turnout rates measured?
How, and how much, do most citizens participate?
Who votes, who doesn’t?
Why do some people participate in politics at higher rates than others?
How did the Framers of the Constitution think average citizens should participate in America’s representative democracy?
Should today’s college-age citizens participate more in politics?
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

3. Introduction WHO GOVERNS? TO WHAT ENDS? Who votes, who doesn’t?
Why do some people participate in politics at higher rates than others?
TO WHAT ENDS?
How did the Framers of the Constitution think average citizens should participate in America’s representative democracy?
Should today’s college-age citizens participate more in politics?
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

4. A Close Look at Nonvoting
Voting-Age Population (VAP)
All U.S. residents age 18 or older
2012 national voter turnout rate = 53.6%
Voting-Eligible Population (VEP)
Excludes U.S. residents not legally permitted to cast a ballot
2012 national voter turnout rate = 58.2%
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Two groups excluded from the voting-eligible population are noncitizens and most convicted felons.

5. Two Methods of Calculating Turnout in Presidential Elections, 1948–2012
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Table 8.1
Source: Updated from Michael P. McDonald and Samuel L. Popkin, “The Myth of the Vanishing Voter,” American Political Science Review 95 (December 2001): table 1, 966. Reprinted with permission of Cambridge University Press; Michael P. McDonald, “2008 General Election Turnout Rates,” updated April 26, 2009, at accessed May 8, 2009; Michael P. McDonald, George Mason University, United States Elections Project, 2012 General Elections Turnout Rate, March 25,

6. A Close Look at Nonvoting
Registered voters
Varies by age
About one-half of nonvoters are registered
Burden of registration on voter
Motor-voter law
GOTV drives
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
In most European nations, registration is done for you—automatically—by the government.

7. Voter Registration and Turnout by Age
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Table 8.3
Source: Adapted from U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports , June 2008, Table 400, and Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012, Table 399, p. 246.

8. A Close Look at Nonvoting
Registered nonvoters gave three major reasons why they did not vote:
Too busy or had scheduling conflicts
Family chores or obligations
Believed their vote would not make a difference
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

9. Method of Registration to Vote, 2010 Percent Distribution of Registered Voters
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Figure 8.1
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey, “Voting and Registration,” November 2010.

10. A Close Look at Nonvoting
Are Americans satisfied with their government?
Low voter turnout → good or bad?
Most important issue is how participation affects government
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

11. The Rise of the American Electorate
From State to Federal Control
Literacy test
Poll tax
Grandfather clause
White primary
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
At the time of the ratification, voting was limited to property owners or taxpayers.
After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, blacks and whites voted together in a small Alabama town.

12. Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Library of Congress
The campaign to win the vote for women nationwide succeeded with the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

13. The Rise of the American Electorate
Voter Turnout
Proportion of voters similar since 1928
Debate about decline
Australian ballot and reforms
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

14. Voter Participation in Presidential Elections,1860–2012
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Figure 8.2
Note: Several southern states did not participate in the 1864 and 1868 elections.
Sources: For 1860–1928: Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, part 2, p. 1071; 1932–1944: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1992, p. 517; 1948–2000: Michael P. McDonald and Samuel L. Popkin, “The Myth of the Vanishing Voter,” American Political Science Review 95 (December 2001): table 1, p. 966; 2004–2012 elections, American National Election Studies (ANES).

15. Who Participates in Politics?
Forms of Participation
Inactive
Voting specialists
Campaigners
Communalists
Parochial participants
Activists
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

16. Who Participates in Politics?
Participation: Causes and Meaning
Cannot make broad generalizations about causes or meaning of participation
While fewer Americans may be voting, more Americans are participating
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
There are many factors having nothing to do with apathy that shape our participation rates—age,
race, party organization, the barriers to registration, and popular views about the significance of
elections.

17. Occupy Wall Street Spreads from Wall Street to Main Street
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Click picture to play video

18. Occupy Wall Street Spreads from Wall Street to Main Street
Taking a closer look:
Did the lack of a unified message impede the goals of Occupy Wall Street?
Was Occupy Wall Street successful?
What demographic qualities, if any, do these protestors share?
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

19. Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections, by Schooling, Employment, and Race, 1996–2008
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Figure 8.3
Source: Adapted from U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, June and November 2008.

20. Political Participation Here and Abroad
Percent of People Who…
U.S.
Rank among
20 Democracies
Outranked by…
Tried to persuade others to vote for a candidate
44%
2nd
Canada
Supported party by attending meeting, putting up poster
30%
Donated money to political group
21%
1st
none
Were contacted by party or candidate
47%
3rd
Canada, Ireland
Copyright © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Table 8.4
Source: Professor Martin Wattenberg, University of California, Irvine, using data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems.