The Turnout Gap

The Turnout Gap PDF Author: Bernard L. Fraga
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108475191
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Book Description
Persistent racial/ethnic gaps in voter turnout produce elections that are increasingly unrepresentative of the wishes of all Americans.

The Turnout Gap

The Turnout Gap PDF Author: Bernard L. Fraga
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108685161
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
In The Turnout Gap, Bernard L. Fraga offers the most comprehensive analysis to date of the causes and consequences of racial and ethnic disparities in voter turnout. Examining voting for Whites, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans from the 1800s to the present, Fraga documents persistent gaps in turnout and shows that elections are increasingly unrepresentative of the wishes of all Americans. These gaps persist not because of socioeconomics or voter suppression, but because minority voters have limited influence in shaping election outcomes. As Fraga demonstrates, voters turn out at higher rates when their votes matter; despite demographic change, in most elections and most places, minorities are less electorally relevant than Whites. The Turnout Gap shows that when politicians engage the minority electorate, the power of the vote can win. However, demography is not destiny. It is up to politicians, parties, and citizens themselves to mobilize the potential of all Americans.

The Anger Gap

The Anger Gap PDF Author: Davin L. Phoenix
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316999661
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Book Description
Anger is a powerful mobilizing force in American politics on both sides of the political aisle, but does it motivate all groups equally? This book offers a new conceptualization of anger as a political resource that mobilizes black and white Americans differentially to exacerbate political inequality. Drawing on survey data from the last forty years, experiments, and rhetoric analysis, Phoenix finds that - from Reagan to Trump - black Americans register significantly less anger than their white counterparts and that anger (in contrast to pride) has a weaker mobilizing effect on their political participation. The book examines both the causes of this and the consequences. Pointing to black Americans' tempered expectations of politics and the stigmas associated with black anger, it shows how race and lived experience moderate the emergence of emotions and their impact on behavior. The book makes multiple theoretical contributions and offers important practical insights for political strategy.

Making Young Voters

Making Young Voters PDF Author: John B. Holbein
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108488420
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

Book Description
The solution to youth voter turnout requires focus on helping young people follow through on their political interests and intentions.

Who Votes Now?

Who Votes Now? PDF Author: Jan E. Leighley
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400848628
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description
Who Votes Now? compares the demographic characteristics and political views of voters and nonvoters in American presidential elections since 1972 and examines how electoral reforms and the choices offered by candidates influence voter turnout. Drawing on a wealth of data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey and the American National Election Studies, Jan Leighley and Jonathan Nagler demonstrate that the rich have consistently voted more than the poor for the past four decades, and that voters are substantially more conservative in their economic views than nonvoters. They find that women are now more likely to vote than men, that the gap in voting rates between blacks and whites has largely disappeared, and that older Americans continue to vote more than younger Americans. Leighley and Nagler also show how electoral reforms such as Election Day voter registration and absentee voting have boosted voter turnout, and how turnout would also rise if parties offered more distinct choices. Providing the most systematic analysis available of modern voter turnout, Who Votes Now? reveals that persistent class bias in turnout has enduring political consequences, and that it really does matter who votes and who doesn't.

The Participation Gap

The Participation Gap PDF Author: Russell J. Dalton
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191053325
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Book Description
The dilemma of democracy arises from two contrasting trends. More people in the established democracies are participating in civil society activity, contacting government officials, protesting, and using online activism and other creative forms of participation. At the same time, the importance of social status as an influence on political activity is increasing. The democratic principle of the equality of voice is eroding. The politically rich are getting richer-and the politically needy have less voice. This book assembles an unprecedented set of international public opinion surveys to identify the individual, institutional, and political factors that produce these trends. New forms of activity place greater demands on participants, raising the importance of social status skills and resources. Civil society activity further widens the participation gap. New norms of citizenship shift how people participate. And generational change and new online forms of activism accentuate this process. Effective and representative government requires a participatory citizenry and equal voice, and participation trends are undermining these outcomes. The Participation Gap both documents the growing participation gap in contemporary democracies and suggests ways that we can better achieve their theoretical ideal of a participatory citizenry and equal voice.

The Gun Gap

The Gun Gap PDF Author: Mark R. Joslyn
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019006482X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
"To understand public opinion and political behavior, researchers typically sort people by self-identified groupings such as party identification, race, gender, education and income. This book advances gun owners as a new classification. It demonstrates a "gun gap", which captures the differences between gun owners and non-gun owners, and shows how this gap improves conventional models of political behavior. The gun gap in fact represents an important explanation for voter choice, voter turnout, perceptions of personal and public safety, preferences for gun control policies, and support for the death penalty. Moreover, the gun gap is growing. During the 1970s and 1980s, the gap was small. However, legislative battles over guns in the early 1990s marked a significant growth in the gun gap that continues to this day. The 2016 presidential election witnessed the largest recorded gun gap in history. The gun gap in voter choice was nearly three times larger in 2016 than the gender gap, and exceeded age and education gaps by notable margins. This book also focuses on variation among gun owners. Gun owners are not a monolith but exhibit attitudinal and behavioral differences that can be as large as the gap between gun and non-gun owners. The gun gap thus affords a new and compelling vantage point to evaluate modern mass politics"--

Freedom is Not Enough

Freedom is Not Enough PDF Author: Ronald W. Walters
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742548060
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Book Description
Black voters can make or break a presidential election--look at the close electoral results in 2000 and the difference the disenfranchised Black vote in Florida alone might have made. Black candidates can influence a presidential election--look at the effect that Jesse Jackson had on the Democratic party, the platform, and the electorate in 1984 and 1988, and the contributions to the Democratic debates that Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton made in 2004. American presidential politics can't get along without the Black vote--witness the controversy over candidates' appearing (or not) at the NAACP convention, or the extent to which candidates court (or not) the Black vote in a variety of venues. It all goes back to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which formally gave African Americans the right to vote, even if after all these years that right is continuously contested. In Freedom Is Not Enough (a quote from Lyndon Johnson's 1965 commencement address to Howard University just before he signed the Voting Rights Act), Ronald W. Walters traces the history of the Black vote since 1965, celebrates its fortieth anniversary in 2005, and shows why passing a law is not the same as ensuring its enforcement, legitimacy, and opportunity.

Latinos and the 2016 Election

Latinos and the 2016 Election PDF Author: Gabriel R. Sanchez
Publisher: MSU Press
ISBN: 1628953985
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
The 2016 election saw more Latino votes than the record voter turnout of the 2012 election. The essays in this volume provide a highly detailed analysis of the state and national impact Latino voters had in what will be remembered as one of the biggest surprises in presidential election history. Contrary to much commentary, Latino voters increased their participation rates in all states beyond the supposed peak levels that they attained in 2012. Moreover, they again displayed their overwhelming support of Democratic candidates and even improved their Democratic support in Florida. Nonetheless, their continued presence and participation in national elections was not sufficient to prevent the election of Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate who vilified Latinos and especially Latino immigrants. Each essay provides insights as to how these two competing realities coexist, while the conclusion addresses the implications of this coexistence for the future of Latinos in American politics.

How Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration Shape the California Electorate

How Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration Shape the California Electorate PDF Author: Jack Citrin
Publisher: Public Policy Instit. of CA
ISBN: 1582130620
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 120

Book Description