Commitment to democracy and democratic norms is declining to the point where many Americans question the current political system as a form of democratic governance. Americans are deeply divided along lines of social identity, political preferences, and lived experiences (Pew Research Center, 2017a). The rhetoric and divisiveness of the 2016…

Perceiving political engagement to be dangerously low among American citizens, many political science professors in recent years have attempted to promote engagement and "healthier" political attitudes. The effectiveness of these efforts appears variable and generally quite modest. Following the model of Canadian citizens' assemblies, we…

Data from the Latino National Political Survey indicate that naturalized Latinos were less likely than native-born Latinos to participate in politics; the negative influence of naturalization was less than the positive influence on participation of increasing levels of education and age. Participation in schools was higher among Mexican American…

In this research note we investigate the occurrence of citizenship concepts among adolescents in Belgium. The analysis is based on the Belgian Youth Survey (2006), which is a representative survey among 6330 16-year olds in the country. Citizenship concepts were shown to be multi-dimensional, with distinct factors for conventional or electoral…

The tension at the heart of pension politics is the incentive to address today's claimants and focus on the here-and-now at the expense of long-term concerns and more dispersed constituencies. In the private sector, rules and regulations seek to tame corner-cutting and short-sighted behavior. In the public sector, the primary safeguard is the…

The authors investigate the strategic rationale behind the message sent by Osama bin Laden on the eve of the 2004 U.S. Presidential elections. They model this situation as a signaling game in which a population of receivers takes a binary choice, the outcome is decided by majority rule, sender and receivers have conflicting interests, and there is…

A case study of a school board election in a metropolitan school district is used to examine the effects of electoral competition and conflict on school board behavior. (Author/MW)

Measures of racial attitude, conceptual style, commitment to candidate and electoral process, social-political evaluation, and voting intentions, were administered to white college students (N=320) before the 1972 Presidential election. Prediction of behavioral intentions becomes more powerful as attitudinal measures are made more directly…

Examined voting behavior among 370 low-income older African Americans by assessing impact of various predictors on electoral participation in 7 elections. Elders who were active in community, with strong sense of citizen duty, who identified as strong Democrats, and with higher levels of education were more likely to vote. (Author/NB)

Most of the research on motivations and media use has assumed that there is some general motivation that directs habitual media behavior. Recent work on motivations, however, suggests that it may be valuable to distinguish between general needs and more specific needs, both of which may direct media behavior. For example, regular media use might…

Evaluates the 1976 presidential debates as an innovation in political communication formats that might overcome existing gaps in electoral participation between the more and less active sectors of society. Examines the equivalence of effects of debate-watching and related behaviors for different levels of age, education, and politial interest.…

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between psychological traits and voting behavior. Investigated is the thesis that psychological traits are useful concepts for political scientists as predictors of consistency in behavior. Contending that previous trait theory research has been generally unimpressive, the author…

This paper reports part of the results from a three-stage panel study of the Fall 1976 presidential campaigns; 1,927 interviews were conducted in all, 594 occurring in the week prior to the election. Results indicated that voters did not change their voting intentions significantly during the fall campaigns; that they did change the certainty with…

An analysis of voting behavior toward women candidates in the 1979 general election in Great Britain determined whether public opinion has shifted against an equal political role for women. A total of 104 Labour, Liberal, and Conservative female candidates were measured against a control group of the same number of male candidates. The research…

Voter behavior is assessed toward female candidates for state legislatures in six states during 1970 to 1980. The sample consisted of 4,910 female and male candidates in state legislative elections to the lower house in Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. The relationship of party, incumbency, and urban or rural residency…