GOV 310L Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Socioeconomic Status, Higher Education, Literacy Test
Document Summary
Democracy is based on popular sovereignty rule of the people. Voting is not the sole form of political participation. Writing letter, attending rallies, donating money are all forms of participation. Compared to other western industrialized countries the u. s. has: more elections, lowe voter turnout. Factors that determine voter turnout and the choices voters make are shaped by: Institutions and rules (voter id laws, registration laws, etc. : campaign-specific factors (the candidates, on- vs. off-year, etc. ) If it is greater than zero, the individual will vote, if it less than zero, the individual will not vote. The paradox is that, because p is typically so small, the costs (c) will almost always be larger than pb, and the value will be less than zero yet large numbers of people still vote. Information gathering: few americans are well-informed about politics and government. Going to the polling place: long lines.
