ElectionThe focal point of American political life is the presidential election. More citi

Election

The focal point of American political life is the presidential election. More citizens participate in this process than in any other aspect of civic life, and their choice has enormous significance for the nation and, indeed, for the world. In the United States, the president technically is not directly elected by the people but by a body established under the Constitution called the Electoral College. Its members are supposed to mirror the wishes of the voters in their state.

Recent Turnout(参与人数)

However, between 1964 and 1988, turnout in presidential elections slowly declined, from 62% to 50%. In 1992, turnout increased slightly, to 54%. That is, of all citizens who could have registered to vote, barely half voted. This means that the winner of a presidential election might have received only one-fourth of the votes of potential voters.

Who Does Not Vote？

Before we can explain why some people do not vote, we need to see who the nonvoters are. The most important thing to remember is that voting is related to education, income, and occupation, that is, to socioeconomic class. For example, if you are a college graduate, the chances are about 80% that you will vote; if you have less than a high school education, the chances are only about half that. Differences between higher-and lower-income people are also quite large. Two out of three nonvoters have incomes below the average. This class gap in turnout is widening. Although voting among all groups of Americans has declined in the past 30 years, the proportion of college-educated persons who participated fell by less than 10% while that of high school-educated persons dropped by nearly 20%.

Though many people take it for granted that those in the working class vote at lower rates than those in the middle and upper classes, in the United States these differences are far wider than in other nations and far wider than in nineteenth-century America. So there appears to be something unique about the contemporary American political system that inhibits voting participations of all citizens, but particularly those whose income and educational levels are below the average.

Voting is also much more common among older than young people. The popular impression that young people often participate in politics was reinforced during the Vietnam years, when college campuses exploded with anti-war dissent. In fact, however, young people vote much less frequently than their elders. Those in their 40s and older have established their careers and families, and they have more time and money to devote to voting and other political activities.

Why Turnout is Low？

There are a number of possible reasons why Americans esp. low-income and young Americans, do not vote.

One reason is that non-voters are satisfied: failing to vote is a passive form. of consent to what government is doing.

About one-third of a group of non-voters in the 1.990 election, when asked why they did not vote, gave reasons suggesting they were disgusted with politics. The public was condemning the lack of real issues in the campaign, the negative advertising, the constant attention paid by television to the polls telling people how they were going to vote. In fact, tnmout is inversely(成反比地) related to media spending; the more the candidates spend, the lower the turnout. In addition to the quality of the campaigns, some people think turnout has declined because the elections are so frequent, campaigns last so long and so many are contested that the public becomes bored, confused, or impatient. At the presidential level, the sheer quantity of coverage, much of it focused repetitively on "who's winning", may simply bore people. Moreover, the continual public polling and the widely publicized results may lead some to believe they don't need to vote.

T

A．Y

B．N

C．NG