Political Participation

1. Political Participation Why Do People Vote?

2. Today • Forms of political participation • Explaining the individual decision to vote or abstain

3. Start With Some Definitions . . . • Political Efficacy • Social Capital • Social capital flows from “civic engagement” • Specific forms of social capital: • Norms of trust, reciprocity, and connectedness • Information • Efficacy

4. Definition of “Participation” • “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)

5. Influencing who gets elected • Voting • Threshold activity (most people who don’t vote don’t participate at all)

6. Voting as a threshold activity People who vote People who engage in other forms of participation

7. Influencing who gets elected (campaign participation) • 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?? • Not a U.S. citizen • Not yet 18 • Convicted of a felony

8. Influencing who gets elected: Beyond Voting • 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

9. Influencing what they do once they’re in office • Focus on causes or issues • Groups • Rallies • Boycotts • Litigation • Individuals • Writing letters/phoning/e-mailing • Signs and bumper stickers • Civil disobedience

10. Important things to remember • 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)

11. Turning Now to Voting . . . • First thing you need is the right to vote • Also called “the franchise”

12. History of the franchise • Colonial era • Early 1800s • 1870: 15th Amendment, but . . . • Poll taxes • Literacy tests

13. History of the franchise, cont. • 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

14. Who is still officially disenfranchised? • Citizens under 18 • Felons • Resident aliens and illegal immigrants • But among those who *can* vote, why do some choose not to?

15. Pre-1990s Scholarship • Two camps • Rational choice theorists • “Demographic predictor” researchers

16. Rational Choice Theory • People have preferences • Act to maximize those preferences/utility • Constrained by • Resources • Information • What other people do

17. Anthony Downs, “An Economic Theory of Democracy” (1957) • People vote if (P*B) – C > 0 • Benefit • Discounted by Probability of Getting Benefit • Cost

18. Good theory, bad prediction • “Predicts” that rational people never vote • Possible “fix” • Focus on different benefits . . . Psychic benefits, “duty” • Turnout not always sensitive to changes in costs • National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter Act) of 1993) increased registration but not turnout • BUT what about effects of “same day registration”?

19. 2004 Total Turnout Rates for Voting Eligible Population • Minnesota: 77.21% • Wisconsin: 76.19% • Maine: 73.37%

20. Possible explanations: Law High Turnout Law Civic Culture High Turnout

21. Other Camp • Demographic people are able to predict behavior based on characteristics • Education • SES • Race • Age • But, they don’t really explain why people vote (description rather than explanation)

22. So . . . • 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

23. Civic Voluntarism Model • Henry Brady, Sidney Verba and Kay Lehman Schlozman • “Voice and Equality”

24. Civic Voluntarism Model • Interest/Engagement • Mobilization/Recruitment • Resources

25. Interest/Engagement • 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

26. What might affect interest/engagement?

27. Mobilization/Recruitment • Being asked to participate • What increases chances of recruitment?

28. Resources • Time • Money • “Civic skills” • Organizational skills • Language skills • Social adeptness • What increases resources?

29. Implications for Civic Voluntarism Model • “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