Overview Chapter

This chapter focuses on political participation in its various forms. It highlights voting as the most common form of political activity, examining factors that affect voter turnout. Citizen participation is an important component of democratic societies and needs to be encouraged. This chapter explains differences in the extent of political participation among various American groups and compares America's participation patterns with citizens in other Western democracies. Major points made in this chapter are the following:

• Voter turnout in U.S. elections is low compared with other democratic nations, which may relate to differences in registration requirements, frequency of elections and the nature of political parties.
• Although most Americans do not participate actively in politics other than by voting, they are more active than citizens of other democracies.
• Most Americans make a sharp distinction between their personal lives and national life, which reduces their incentive to participate politically.