It’s Not All About Resources

Abstract

The dominant political science explanations of the causes of individual-level political participation converge on three sets of antecedents-resources/ skills, recruitment, and political engagement. However, the overwhelming majority of the empirical tests of these antecedents rely on cross-sectional data, obscuring the fact that micro-level participation in the United States is more accurately characterized by instability rather than by stability. Using the American National Election Study and Jennings time-series data, we for the first time demonstrate the inability of traditionally examined antecedents to explain individual-level variation in political behavior over time. Finding extant theory inadequate in this regard, we propose a modification of participation theories that puts the concept of motivation in the foreground. We argue that a model that includes motivation may both pave the way for a better understanding of the variation in participation over time and suggest possible prescriptions to help alleviate representational biases at the individual level.

Reassessing the Theory and Measures of Non-Voting Political Participation in the American Electorate

“…We tested our hypotheses using the 2020 ANES Time Series survey. Using these data allows us to incorporate measures of NVP used in prior research (e.g., Argyle and Pope 2022;Miller and Saunders 2016;Saunders and Abramowitz 2004) with newer measures, we argue, better capture contemporary political participation.…”

“…More importantly, these additional studies demonstrate that the impact of NVP on voting among Independents (and to a lesser degree, leaning and not very strong partisans) may be more pronounced by, but is not contingent upon, the additional measures in our novel 12-item index. In this way, while our 12-item index is a more robust and inclusive measure of contemporary NVP (see e.g., DeMars 2018), we acknowledge again that most prior participation literature relied on fewer measures of NVP (e.g., Argyle and Pope 2022;Miller and Saunders 2016;Saunders and Abramowitz 2004) and that it remains unknown as to whether future surveys will include additional measures of NVP as technology and other modes of participation evolve. Given our collective findings, however, we encourage scholars to pay careful attention to the substantive differences between NVP and voting, regardless of the measures available and how they should choose to study them.…”

“…It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that other research found resources alone do not fully explain why NVP and voting vary. Whether suggesting socioeconomic factors mediate, rather than directly affect, participation (Cohen, Vigoda, and Samorly 2001), resources are slower to change than participation (Miller and Saunders 2016), or that certain factors like location affect the type-but not the rate-of participation (Lin and Trujillo 2022), evidence suggests there is reason to pay greater attention to what elicits participation beyond one's ability to do so (Leighley 1995;Miller and Saunders 2016).…”

The Party Goes On: U.S. Young Adults’ Partisanship and Political Engagement Across Age and Historical Time

“…Despite many studies supporting the association of partisanship with citizens’ political activity, prior research on partisanship has largely focused on adults and relied on cross-sectional models (see Miller & Saunders, 2016), leaving unknown how partisanship predicts change over time in youth’s political behavior. Extant literature has emphasized the influence of individuals’ partisan affiliation on electoral behavior, with less attention to nonelectoral expressions of political voice (e.g., protesting, demonstrating; Schussman & Soule, 2005).…”

Distrusting the Process: Electoral Trust, Operational Ideology, and Non-Voting Political Participation in the 2020 American Electorate

“…This abbreviated NVP index includes six items used in the ANES over time and in previous research (e.g., Argyle and Pope 2022;Miller and Saunders 2016;Saunders and Abramowitz 2004): attend a meeting/rally, wear/display a campaign button/sign/sticker, donate to a political party, donate to a candidate, work for a party/candidate, and talk to others about voting (α = 0.62).…”