Exploring the Relationship Between Demographics and Political Engagement in the United States: An Analysis of ANES Data on Formal and Informal Political Participation

The United States suffers from the lowest voter turnout rate of any democratic nation in the developed world. According to the Pew Research Center, most US counterparts in Western Europe and Oceania are far ahead in voter turnout rates. Because of this, it is not only salient to ask what motivates Americans to vote but also whether or not this lack of voting represents a lack of interest in general. On that note, it is necessary to begin to further understand whether voting itself fully encapsulates the political expression of a given American citizen. To turn out and vote, whether by mail or in person, is not the only way to participate in the American political system: non-traditional methods, such as attending or organizing protests or civil demonstrations, have been sanctioned since the inception of the Bill of Rights, and have been at the center of major social and political movements. Ergo, the question of how a citizen can participate in politics is not a novel question. However, it is useful to take a closer look at the distinction between forms of participation themselves and understand what might describe an American who is drawn to one form of participation over another.
One example which can spur interest in analyzing different forms of political participation where there is existing research regards the positive correlation between age and voter turnout, which implies that young Americans are less likely to turn out to vote. This is complicated by some preliminary studies which indicate that participation in non-traditional forms of political expression, like protests, is usually carried out by younger individuals. Because of the inconsistent effects of age on different indicators of participation, it would be premature to prescribe younger people the label of being “politically uninterested” without first considering other valid forms of participation that do not include voting. It is necessary to understand the underlying factors in the decision of whether or not to participate in the political system and how one chooses to do so. This begs the question addressed in this thesis: What factors motivate an individual to participate traditionally or non-traditionally? This fundamental question, applied here to the American political system, aims to paint a clearer picture of what drives individuals, based on observable characteristics and trends, to decide how to participate in politics. To study the distinction between traditional and non-traditional modes of participation, two broad forms of participation will be used: conventional and unconventional, where conventional participation will be measured using a six-part index, one of the factors of which is voting, and is explained more below. Unconventional participation will take advantage of existing survey data that asks about protest participation. All data and original survey methods are credited to the American National Election Studies, a joint study by researchers at Stanford University and the University of Michigan. This study performs secondary research on data from 1948 to the present, from data offered in the ANES Cumulative data file, and year-level survey data from 2000 to 2020.

Keywords: Political Engagement
United States
ANES Data
Political Participation
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Thesis