1. Political Participation and Voting: Expressing the Popular Will
Chapter 7
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas. Copyright © 2005 McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.
Political Participation and Voting: Expressing the Popular Will

2. We are concerned in public affairs, but immersed in our private ones.
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas. Copyright © 2005 McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.
Walter Lippmann

3. Essential component of the ideal of self-government
Elections are a means by which…
People control the government
Government controls the people
Elections are the only form of participation that involves a majority of citizens (in most countries)
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas. Copyright © 2005 McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.
Voter Participation

4. Voter Participation Suffrage- right to vote, has expanded over time
White property owning males
15th Amendment (1870)- ended race as a barrier
19th Amendment (1920)- ended sex as a barrier
24th Amendment (1964)- no poll-tax
26th Amendment (1971)- ended age as a barrier
Disenfranchisement- literacy tests, citizen tests, whites-only primary elections
Voting Rights Act of 1965
“Motor Voter Law” 1993
Linked voter registration to vehicle registration
Made it easier to register to vote
Voter Participation

5. Factors in Voter Turnout: The United States in Comparative Perspective
Registration Requirements
Places a burden on the individual
Voter ID Laws- disenfranchisement?
Voter ID cards serve to depress voter turnout
Georgia photo ID/voter identification card law
Federal judge struck down monetary requirement
Supreme Court upheld Indiana voter ID card requirement
Voter Participation

6. Should Voters be Required to Carry a Government-Issued Photo ID?
Pro:
Voting fraud is widespread and detrimental
All citizens will be assisted in getting IDs
Con:
Poor, elderly, and minorities will be disenfranchised
Little documentation of voter fraud

7. Factors in Voter Turnout: The United States in Comparative Perspective
Frequency of Elections
Elections at many levels of government frequent and staggered
State and local hold elections in off-years to insulate their races from possible effects of presidential campaigns
Primary Elections
Reduces voter turnout
Increases amount of personal effort needed to participate
Americans asked to vote two or three times as often as Europeans
Party Differences
No sharp differences between major parties
Overlapping policies
Voter Participation

8. Voter Participation Why Some Americans Vote and Others Do Not
Civic Attitudes
Civic Duty
regular voters have a strong sense of civic duty
Apathy
People just don’t care enough to vote
Alienation
People feel powerless
Age
Younger people vote the least
Older people vote the most
Education
More education = more likely to participate
Income
Political participation is dominated by the middle-class
Hispanic and African Americans have had a relatively low turnout for POTUS elections
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas. Copyright © 2005 McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.
Voter Participation

9. Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections, 1960-2008
Voter turnout for men and women are somewhat similar
Education level and income are bigger factors in participation
Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections,
Voter Turnout and Level of Income,
2008

10. Voter Participation The Impact of the Vote Prospective Voting
Elections do not normally produce a “mandate”
Prospective Voting
Based on knowledge of candidates’ positions
Retrospective Voting
Based on past performance
Economic conditions usually play a factor, with some consideration of foreign policy issues
Voter Participation
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas. Copyright © 2005 McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.

11. Voter Participation Presidential elections draw the most voters
Presidential debates
Nixon-Kennedy- 60% of households w/ TV
Audiences have declined significantly since 1960
Americans get most of their news from TV
Passive participation
People who follow the news are generally more informed about politics than those who do not
“the Fox anomaly”
Older people follow the news more closely than younger people
Voter Participation

12. America’s Major News Sources

13. Conventional Forms of Participation Other Than Voting
Campaign Activities
Lobbying Group Activities
Following Politics in the Media
Virtual Participation
Political campaigns and citizen mobilization
Democratizing effects but also political polarization
Community Activities
Decline in social capital?
The sum of face-to-face interactions among citizens in a society
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas. Copyright © 2005 McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.
Conventional Forms of Participation Other Than Voting

14. Online Campaign Activities

15. Campaign Activity

16. Unconventional Activism: Social Movements and Protest Politics
Social movements- a broad effort to achieve change
A way for those who are dissatisfied with gov. to get its attention
More dramatic than conventional means
Politically weak can force gov. to be more responsive
Protests go back to the Boston Tea Party.
Protests are often calculated acts usually involving younger citizens rather than older ones
Political protests more planned today than in the past
Protest movements seldom gain broad public support.
Political protests less common today, and low public support for protesters
But protests are often tolerated.
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas. Copyright © 2005 McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.
Unconventional Activism: Social Movements and Protest Politics

17. Protest Activity

18. Participation and the Potential for Influence
Most citizens take little interest in participation, except for voting
Class bias: public versus private
Political = public (i.e. voting)
Economic = private (i.e. health insurance)
Low participation rates of lower-income people
Participation rates parallel private influence
Americans are less likely to vote than Europeans but more likely to donate money or time to promote community causes and work in political campaigns
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas. Copyright © 2005 McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.
Participation and the Potential for Influence

19. Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas. Copyright © 2005 McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.
States in the Nation