POLI 311 Lecture 4: POLI 327 Jan 11
12 May 2018
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Department
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Professor
Political Participation, civic engagement and the openness of the U.S. system January 11th
• What is political participation, and what does it entail?
o Different forms, different actors, institution
o Protesting, voting, running for office, contacting your reps, being a member of a
special interest group, not voting/paying taxes, signing a petition, treason,
• Why do people participate? (reasons, motivations, drivers)
o How relevant the candidates issues are to the voters
o How accessible voting/information is to the voter
• Voting - why do people vote pretty much the same their whole life/what influences
people’s candidate choice?
o People tend to vote in alignment with the people they surround themselves with
▪ You inherit your family’s views and the environment you’re in
o As you grow older, your voting tendencies become more regular
▪ What proportion of the population changes their mind from time to time?
o Geography: voting for the candidate who is assumed to win (First past the post
system) Different social groups comprise the state
o Historical factors can shape how we decide to vote
o Crises can change our points of view of who to vote for — during political crises
there are major shifts within political institutions
▪ If your party leader does not handle crisis well, it could make you change
your opinion of them/their party
• What explains non-participation?
o You can’t just show up without being registered, which can make things
complicated
▪ Some who do pre-register, don’t necessarily show up to vote later on
o Election day isn’t a national holiday; busy with kids/work
o Voter laws and registration dates as inaccessible
o Unawareness of state politics — you might not know who your state representative
is and not care too much
o They don’t like the political system in general
o Voting process: after registering as a voter, you have to choose a candidate that will
represent the two major parties; in some states you have to be registered as a
member of the party — if you don’t want to be open about your stance, you may
just avoid voting
o If you’re more centrally positioned, you may not think that you will make an
impact: “those in the center remain on the edges of the political playing field, relatively
distant and disengaged”
Key debates on participation in the U.S
• The polarization of the electorate
o Compromise is becoming less of an option as the two parties, democrat and
republican, becoming more polarized
• Voting registration rules
o They may make the registration process very difficult, there’s close to 50% of the
US population that doesn’t have a valid government ID
• Gerrymandering: drawing different maps for electoral districts to produce different
outcomes
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
