I found one of my sister's old handouts from AP Gov and it is actually pretty interesting. What I have below is a summary of an excerpt from The Empty Polling Booth. There are six groups, the book argues, of people who do not vote:
- The Positive Apathetics - 35% of Refrainers - These are usually educated, well-off individuals who think that voting is irrelevant. Many of them actually tell you that they are voters when they really are not.
- The Bypassed - 13% of Refrainers - These are less educated, low income income individuals who have a tough time following political campaigns.
- The Politically Impotent - 22% of Refrainers - These are alienated individuals who feel that they don't have any control over their political/personal lives. Teenagers, at least many of them, are politically impotent.
- The Physically Disenfranchised - 18% of Refrainers - These are the physically or legally disabled individuals who just can't make it out to the polls.
- The Naysayers - 6% of Refrainers - These are individuals who know damn well why they don't vote and will go at great lengths to explain to you why (click on "The Naysayers" for an example).
- The Cross-Pressured - 5% of Refrainers - These are individuals who are so torn between the candidates that they don't end up voting at all.
No, I don't think he handed it out this year...
ReplyDeleteThat forgot to mention people like Alex Jones,who believe that their votes do not count, because the whole thing is rigged.
ReplyDelete