1. Longman PoliticalScienceInteractive
Magleby & Light
Government by the People
Chapter 8
Public Opinion, Participation, and Voting
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2. Who Votes? Race and ethnicity Educational level Gender and age
Social Class
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3. Voter Turnout by Race/Ethnicity
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4. Voter Turnout by Educational Level
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5. Voter Turnout by Sex and Age
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6. Voter Turnout by Income
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7. Voter Turnout in Western Democracies
Average Turnout
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8. Turnout
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9. Voting
Voter registration: A system designed to reduce voter fraud by limiting voting to those who have established eligibility to vote by submitting the proper documents, including proof of residency
-Reduces voter turnout
-Instituted in the U.S. only in the late 1800s
-Most other democracies have automatic registration
-Recent reforms
- “Motor Voter” bill (1993)
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10. Voting
In an effort to make registration easier, states have made registration forms available at motor vehicle stations, schools, public buildings, and even highway tollbooths
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11. Voting on the Basis of Party
Party Identification
An informal and subjective affiliation with a political party that most people acquire in childhood
In the absence of reasons to vote otherwise, people depend on party identification to simplify their voting choices
Dramatic increase in self-declared Independents since 1970s
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12. Voting on the Basis of Candidates
Candidate Appeal
How voters feel about a candidate’s background, personality, leadership ability, and other personal qualities
1980s mark a critical threshold in the emergence of a candidate-centered era
Increasingly, campaigns focus on the negative elements of candidates’ history and personality
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13. Voting on the Basis of Issues
Prospective Issue Voting
Voting based on what a candidate pledges to do in the future about an issue if elected
Retrospective Issue Voting
Holding incumbents responsible for past performance on issues
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14. Mobilization
Mobilizing the “base” (most loyal supporters) – primary elections
Mobilizing “swing voters” – general election
Canvassing - asking people how they are going to vote (door-to-door)
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15. Recent Concerns about Voting
Florida 2000
Contested ballots
Outdated voting machines
Lingering perceptions of partisanship
Help America Vote Act 2002
Ohio 2004
Voter I.D. Laws
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16. Counting Votes
Until the 2000 election, Americans took the counting of ballots for granted
Election officials must make judgment calls on incomplete/flawed ballots
Poll workers (regular people from the neighborhood) influence the security, efficiency, and overall environment of polling locations
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17. How Serious is Nonvoting?
Concerns about “class bias”
Negative effect on Democratic candidates
May indicate approval of the status quo
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18. How Serious is Nonvoting?
A huge army of nonvoters “hangs over the democratic process like a bomb ready to explode and change the course of history.”
-Arthur Hadley
“I’m not going to shed any crocodile tears if people don’t care enough to vote….I’d be extremely happy if nobody in the United States voted except for the people who thought about the issues and made up their own minds and wanted to vote.”
- the late Senator Sam Ervin
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19. Why People Don’t Vote
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