POL S 354: Elections & Voting in U.S.

1. POL S 354: Elections & Voting in U.S. “The Civic Volunteerism Model” Week 3: April 18, 2006

2. Voting and Election News… In the news April 11 – 18, 2006: 1. Rally downtown regarding human rights/political rights in China 2. Georgia passes law to crack down on illegal immigrants – requires ID 3. Cheney in Everett and Spokane to help campaign for GOP candidates

3. Civic Volunteerism Model • Verba, Scholzman and Brady focus on three factors in explaining why people DO NOT participate • Because they can’t • Because they don’t want to • Because nobody asked • This leads to the three components of the CVM model of political participation: • Resources / Engagement / Recruitment

4. Civic Volunteerism Model • VSB argue that the Civic Volunteerism model stands in contrast to previous models of participation such as: • SES Model • Rational choice model • CVM emphasizes components of previous models but is also flexible to allow each of the three parts to play a larger or smaller role

5. Civic Volunteerism Model • How do the authors rate the importance of each of the three components: • Resources / ability to participate • Engagement / desire to participate • Recruitment / encouraged to participate • Resources are important in this model because: • Easier and more accurate to measure • Causal link is easier to establish • Argument is easier to make/interpret

6. Civic Volunteerism Model • Does emphasis on resources make this nothing more than a new SES model, or is there a difference? • Is it possible that engagement or recruitment are more important for different sub-groups?

7. CVM – Resources • CVM defines resources as: • Time (free time) • Money (expendable) • Civic skills • What about education? Is this a resource or not? • Civic skills may be more accurate • Still include education in the model, but they count it as a demographic ‘control’

8. CVM – Engagement • Do not narrowly define engagement like they do for resources, instead leaving it open to multiple measures: • Interest in politics • Sense of political efficacy • Civic values associated with participation • Group consciousness • Commitment to specific policies • Many more possible measures…

9. CVM – Recruitment • Recruitment = requests for participation • CVM moves beyond simple party organizations as doing the recruitment • Church • Work • Clubs / Groups • Friends / Relatives • Multiple avenues for recruitment

10. Some Notes on Measurement • Where do VSB get their “data”? • Public opinion survey • What are some limitations of their data, with regard to measurement? • Data are all self-reported • Self-reported is less reliable than validated • Recall bias – Did I do that or not? Hmmm… • Interview bias • Social desirability bias

11. Need Research Assistants • Opportunity for paid and/or extra credit – depends on how much time you put in • Project concerns competitiveness of U.S. House elections 1952 – 2002 • Create database of election results for all 435 House districts in: • 1952; 1962; 1972; 1982; 1992; 2002 • Come talk to me now if you are interested……