Voting is a form of political participation--a sharing in activities designed to influence public policy and leadership. Political participation involves other activities in addition to voting, such as joining political parties and interest groups, writing to elected officials, demonstrating for political causes and giving money to political candidates. It is especially important in democratic societies for ordinary people to be involved in meaningful political activities.
A historical trend in the United States since the nation's founding has been to gradually remove barriers to voting and participation based on property ownership, sex, race, literacy tests and payment of poll taxes.
Voter turnout in the U.S. is lower than other democracies. Factors that influence voter turnout are registration requirements, frequency of elections and party differences.
Americans must rely on personal initiative to register, as opposed to other democracies where this responsibility is placed on government. Where states have adopted more lenient registration laws such as "motor-voter" laws, voter turnout rates did not increase. The national motor-voter legislation passed in 1993 resulted in higher registration numbers but did not result in higher voter turnout in that year's presidential election.
Americans have more frequent opportunities to vote than others in the Western world which tends to make voting more burdensome. Also, U.S. voters must make time to vote during the work week since elections are not scheduled on special days to minimize conflicts with work demands.
Low voter turnout in the U.S. is affected by voters' perceptions that there is not much difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. Party choice in the European democracies is more sharply divided over policies and class interests.
Certain factors help explain why some Americans do vote in all or nearly all elections while other Americans are apathetic, meaning they seldom or never vote.
Frequent voters in the U.S. have a strong sense of civic duty, which means they regard participation in elections as one of the responsibilities of citizenship.
Voter turnout is influenced by the degree to which people believe that their participation will make a difference. People who feel alienated from government tend to withdraw from politics especially voting.
Other differences in voter turnout are associated with age, education and economic class. Middle-aged and senior citizens vote in higher percentages than citizens under the age of thirty. The higher the level of a person's education, the more likely that individual is to vote. Americans from lower economic levels are less likely to vote than their European counterparts due in part to the lack of labor or socialist parties to activate them.
Whereas voters choose representatives who will govern, elections do not ordinarily produce a popular mandate for policies advocated by winning candidates. Voter awareness of issues is often obscured by media coverage of the campaign process.
Election outcomes can hinge on patterns of prospective and retrospective voting.
Prospective voting is the less prevalent form of voting which requires that voters know the issue positions of candidates and choose the candidate whose proposals best match their own issue preferences. This is a more difficult approach for voters to take since they are usually not well informed about campaign issues; sometimes they do not know the names of major candidates and are unable to link candidates with issues.
2. Retrospective voting is more prevalent and occurs when voters support the incumbent party or candidate when they are pleased with their performance, and reverse their position when they are displeased. Economic conditions can become a key factor in retrospective voting since voters tend to hold the incumbent party responsible for the state of the economy. Asking voters if they are better off now than previously plays into this approach to voting. It forces public officials to pay more attention to voters' policy preferences.
Conventional Forms of Participation Other Than Voting
There are other forms of political participation besides voting that offer a greater opportunity for personal influence or involvement. These may include campaign activities, community activities, lobbying group activities and attentiveness to the news.
Campaign-related activities include working for a candidate or a party, attending election rallies or meetings, contributing money and wearing a candidate's campaign button. Campaign participation is higher in the U.S. than in Europe because Americans have more opportunity to become involved in that activity.
The U.S. tradition of community participation goes back to colonial days. Many Americans participate in public affairs through local organizations such as parent-teacher associations, neighborhood groups, civic clubs, church-affiliated groups, and hospital auxiliaries.
Americans can participate in lobbying group activities to pressure government officials or attempt to influence public policy.
Passive political participation, such as reading newspapers and watching television news, is important if people are to participate effectively and intelligently in politics. Though most Americans rely on television for news, only about a third of them pays close attention to political news.
The internet provides a new vehicle for political participation though its impact is unclear.
Unconventional Activism: Social Movements and Protest Politics
Social movements, or political movements as they are sometimes called, refer to broad efforts to achieve change by citizens who feel that government is not properly responsive to their interests. Examples of unconventional protest activities used to draw attention to grievances are street demonstrations or civil disobedience.
Most citizens believe that the proper way to express disagreement over public policy is through voting, not protesting.
Americans especially disapprove of protests over war.
Participants in social movements tend to be younger and emphasize nonmaterial values more than nonparticipants.
Participation and the Potential for Influence
Most American citizens take little interest in participation except to vote, and a significant minority cannot be persuaded to do even that. Sustained political activism does not engage a large proportion of the public.
The emphasis that American culture places on individualism tends to discourage a sense of urgency about political participation.
Americans do not see their material well-being as greatly dependent on their active involvement in politics. This contributes to a middle-class bias in political participation.
The pattern of individual political participation in the U.S. parallels the distribution of influence that prevails in the private sector of society.
