ch 6 political participation – Flashcards
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European nations vs US voter turn out
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more than 80% of eligible voters turn out to vote in European nations, in the US it's less than 60%
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negative consequence of strict voter registration procedures commonly used in the United States
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general decrease is voting
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In the United States the burden of voter registration is on
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the individual voters themselves, whereas in European countries it is on the government, which makes it free and automatic
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political participation encompasses
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voting, communicating with one's representatives in government, and signing petitions
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One explanation for the low rate of voter registration in the United States is that people
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are simply happy with the way government is working
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"Motor-Voter" bill
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allows people to register to vote when applying for driver's licenses. one side effect of this has been an increase in independent registrations
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In the United States, not every citizen of voting age is allowed to vote due to
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residency requirements, literacy tests, racism, people who are convicted felons cannot vote, nor those who are legally classified as idiots
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The Constitution left it entirely up to who to decide who could vote, and for what offices?
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the states
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At the federal level, only the HoR, under the original Constitution, was elected directly by
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the people
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In the south, property restrictions on suffrage remained until about 1840. Blacks were kept from the polls through?
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the Grandfather clause, literacy tests, and poll taxes
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Voting Rights Act of 1965
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suspended the use of literacy tests, provided for the appointment of federal examiners to register blacks in areas where voter participation was less than 50%, and it imposed criminal penalties on those who interfere with someone's right to vote
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Between 1915 and 1925, the eligible voting population nearly doubled as a result of
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the 19th amendment
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1972
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the first year 18 to 21 year olds could vote, made little difference in election
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In places where large numbers of citizens cannot speak English
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ballots are provided in the language of those citizens
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Since the latter decades of the 19th century, voter participation in presidential elections has
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declined
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major political parties have become more honest, resulting in
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a genuine voter decline. Also, the major parties stopped mobilizing mass voter turnouts for elections.
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the adoption of strict registration procedures for voting has
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decreased both electoral fraud and voting itself
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the Australian ballot, the world's first secret ballot, was intended to
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cut back on vote buying and selling, as well as fraudulent vote counts
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Voting in local elections is the 2nd most common form of political participation after
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voting in presidential elections
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the type of political activity most likely to attract citizens with strong opinions and party identification is
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campaigning
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one drawback in surveys which ask people if they've voted in an election is that
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roughly 10% of them will simply lie about it
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politically inactive people tend to be
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non-white, young, and have low incomes
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Verba and Nie found that about 20% of our population is
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not active in politics in any way
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Verba and Nie divide the population into participation groups based on certain characteristics. They conclude that:
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voting specialists tend to be older and less educated than people in the other groups. Campaigners have higher education levels and stronger opinions. Communalist prefer to avoid conflict and tension. Therefore when it comes to engaging in partisan competition, campaigners and communalists are opposites. the group they call parochial participants tend to avoid elections and membership in any community groups
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More education, and being older than 35 are the
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best predictors of a high rate of political participation
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reasons why religious involvement increases political participation
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it leads to social connectedness and increases awareness of larger issues and it puts people in contact with like-minded people
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Before taking socio-economic status into account
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blacks appear to be the population group with the lowest participation rate
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When blacks and whites of the same socio-economic status are compared
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blacks will have higher participation rates than whites
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studies show no apparent correlation between
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the distrust eligible voters have toward political leaders and the likelihood they will vote. According to Wilson, cynicism has no effect at all on voter turnout.
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Voter registration has become decidedly
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easier in recent years. For example, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, and Wisconsin each allow voter registration on the day of the election itself. This has only resulted in slight increases in voter turnout.
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One reason for the decline in voter turnout
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increasingly distant and bureaucratic image of the major political parties
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jesse jackson ran for president in 1984, black voter registration in the South
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increased, but was more than offset by the increase in registration among southern whites
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In recent decades, public demonstrations such as sit-ins and protest marches
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have become much more common
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compared to other western democracies, rank relatively high in participation when it comes to
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working for a political party, contacting officials about issues of concern, and working with local groups on community problems. When it comes to voting, we are lower
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Compared to the United States, European voters cast ballots
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less frequently and for fewer offices
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the profile of voters in the United States is the least likely
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to be that of our general population
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Our voter turnout is heavily skewed toward
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higher status people. As a result, government tends to be more responsive to the ideologies of higher status people