Chapter 13 : Government, Political Power & Social Movements

In the last decade, people around the globe have struggled to achieve democratic governments. In our own history there have been many peoples' movements to gain greater political, civil, and social rights. At the same time, these rights, particularly political rights, are not always routinely exercised. Political observers have noted that Americans seem to be taking their voting responsibilities more lightly in recent decades. In this exercise we will look at some of the data on voter turnout for presidential elections in this country over the past several decades to see what the trends have been.

Part I:

Let's begin by looking at information provided by the Federal Election Commission on the national voter turnout in federal elections. Table 1 provides this information for you.

Writing Assignment 1:

What conclusions can you draw about the patterns of participation in federal elections over the past thirty years? Why do you think the percentage of registered voters has been increasing at the same time that fewer of them are actually voting?

Part II:

The U.S. Census provides regular reports on registration and voting in elections. You can click here to read a detailed report on the November 2000 election; please note that this is a link to a PDF file, so if you do not have an Acrobat Reader installed on your computer you must first go to the Adobe Acrobat website and download one for free. Table 2 provides some information on the social characteristics of voters in that election.

Writing Assignment 2:

As you can see, the pattern of participation varies by social group. Why do you think participation increases with age, with young people having significantly lower rates of participation than older age groups? What factors might explain the significantly lower rates for Hispanics and Asian/Pacific Islander groups?

Part III:

For the next part of this exercise we are going to be using the General Social Survey. By now you should feel comfortable using this datafile. Here are the steps you will follow:

1. Begin at the SDA Archive page and click on "GSS Cumulative Datafile 1972-2002 - Full Analysis."
2. On the next screen, first select the "Frequencies or crosstabulation" option and then click on "Start."
3. In the Row box type in the following variable names with a space between each: VOTE72 VOTE76 VOTE80 VOTE84 VOTE88 VOTE92 VOTE96 VOTE00. No Column variable will be needed here, but you should check the "Color coding" and "Question text" options.
4. Last, click "Run the table" to get the desired results.

Writing Assignment 3:

Now, compare the results from this general survey with those obtained from the other two sources. In what ways are they the same? In what ways are they different?

Still using the General Social Survey, let's look and see if we can uncover any differences in voting among different groups of respondents. Return to the SDA screen where you entered the names of the row variables and following these steps:

1. In the Column box type in the following: EDUC (r: 0-11; 12; 13-15; 16; 17-20). This will allow you to compare the voting patterns for people with different amounts of education in each of the past eight presidential elections.
2. Check "Color coding," "Question text" and "Statistics among the Options; the options for decimals can be left at the default settings.
3. Finally, click "Run the table" to get the desired results.

After examining the responses, fill in the cells in Table 4, using only the percentages of those respondents who indicated that they had voted in the selected presidential elections. Do you see any relationship between voting behavior and educational level?

Repeat these steps replacing EDUC variable first with AGE (r: 18-20;21-25; 26-30; 31-35; 36-40; 41-45;46-50; 51-55;56-60;61-65;66-89), then with CLASS, and finally with PARTYID. Again, fill in the cells of Tables 5-7 with the percentages of those respondents who indicated that they had voted in the selected presidential elections.

Writing Assignment 4:

Do you see any differences in the patterns of voting by age across the years? In general, how does the pattern of voting change as people get older?

Writing Assignment 5:

What differences do you observe between social classes? Which class is most likely to vote? How can you use sociology to explain observed differences?

Writing Assignment 6:

Are there differences in voting behavior between Democrats and Republicans? Does the strength of the identification influence whether or not the person will vote? How can you explain the observed patterns in this table?

Writing Assignment 7:

When you have finished, analyze the results and draw some conclusions about the pattern of voting over the last 30 years. Who is consistently most likely to vote? Which groups have reduced their participation in the election process over time? What factors can you point to in trying to explain the changing patterns?

Part IV:

Writing Assignment 8/Essay:

IThe authors of your text suggest three possible explanations for low voter turnout in this country: the nature of registration and voting; the type of elections; and the number of elections. Assume you have been asked to make recommendations regarding ways of increasing voter turnout in elections. What would you suggest? Surf the internet for websites that are devoted to issues of voter turnout. In particular, you might want to look at some of the patterns and practices common in other democracies around the globe. The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) website provides information on a wide range of issues related to voter turnout. As you put together a set of recommendations you might want to review the experiences of other nations with such policies as compulsory voting or mail-in voting.