The Influence of Political Participation on Elections and Laws

🗳️ Political participation includes various forms such as voting, contacting officials, participating in protests, donating, and volunteering.

🌍 The United States has lower voter turnout compared to other industrialized countries when looking at registration and actual voting.

📊 Differences in political participation can impact election outcomes and the laws governments enact.

📊 Around 50 to 60% of the voting age population tends to turn out to vote.

🗳️ Around 80 to 90% of registered voters tend to vote.

💼 Voter behavior can be influenced by economic self-interest, where homeowners and higher-income individuals tend to vote more often.

🗳️ Voting is a civic duty and can lead to a sense of political efficacy.

📊 Turnout in elections is influenced by factors such as competitiveness, voter encouragement, and registration issues.

👥 Different reasons why people don't vote can be categorized as institutional, psychological, or other factors.

🗳️ Does it matter who votes and do nonvoters have an impact on election outcomes?

📊 Nonvoters tend to favor slightly more liberal policies than voters on average.

🔍 Political participation bias can lead to less representative laws.

🗳️ Nonvoters tend to have more liberal views and support government intervention and equality.

📊 The participation bias differs among states and cities.

🏢 Nonvoters' preferences have a small effect on election outcomes.

🗳️ Only a small number of Senate elections have been changed by voter turnout.

📊 Examining voter behavior can give insights into potential outcomes if everyone voted.

💼 Participation bias in low income voters can affect policy outcomes in certain states.

📝 Americans tend not to register or vote as often as people in other countries.

🗳️ Americans participate in politics more often through activities such as writing to newspapers, writing to the national legislature, attending public meetings, or signing petitions.

❓ There may still be participation bias in other forms of participation besides voting.