| dc.description.abstract | This dissertation focuses on the idea that although much canonical research on political participation focuses on either voting or participation outside the voting booth, it leaves questions about the relationship between the two. There are many different types of political activities that make a functioning democracy work, and potential participants in politics have a wide range of activities to choose from. Although voting is the most common and most heavily researched, it is not a prerequisite for participation in non-voting forms of political activity. This dissertation uses a wide variety of data sources and statistical methods to evaluate how people use (and don't use) various forms of voting and non-voting political activity. Throughout the project, I argue that it is especially important to take these additional activities in to account when trying to understand nonvoters. This a group that may be choosing to participate in politics in ways outside of voting. In addition, nonvoters are, on average, is younger, more racially diverse, and of lower socioeconomic status than voters. There is value in taking the actions that nonvoters take outside of the polling place seriously, rather than treating them as aberrations. Doing so may give us insights into nonvoters and the relationship between different forms of political participation. | |
