Voter TURNOUT [AP Gov Review, Unit 5 Topic 2 (5.2)] — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Well, hey there and welcome back to
2. 0:00Himler's History. Now, we've been going
3. 0:02through unit five of the AP government
4. 0:03curriculum, and in this video, we're
5. 0:04going to talk about voter turnout, why
6. 0:06people vote, and what potential barriers
7. 0:08they face when voting. So, if you're
8. 0:10ready to get them brain cows milked,
9. 0:12well, then let's get to it. So, in this
10. 0:13video, here's what we're trying to do.
11. 0:15Explain the roles that individual choice
12. 0:17and state laws play in voter turnout in
13. 0:19elections. So, in the last video, we
14. 0:20established that over the course of
15. 0:21American history, the franchise or the
16. 0:24right to vote has been extended to more
17. 0:25and more people so that today almost all
18. 0:27Americans have access to the voting
19. 0:29booth. However, not everyone who can
20. 0:31vote does vote. So, we need to figure
21. 0:33out why that is. And I've got four
22. 0:34reasons for you. Structural barriers,
23. 0:36political efficacy, demographics, and
24. 0:38type of election. And I reckon we ought
25. 0:40to look at each one. So, first,
26. 0:41structural barriers can affect who
27. 0:43votes. And that just means that a policy
28. 0:44or law can prevent people from voting or
29. 0:47encourage people to vote. An example of
30. 0:48a structural barrier is voter ID laws.
31. 0:50Some states have laws that mandate a
32. 0:52governmentissued identification in order
33. 0:54to get access to the voting booth. Now,
34. 0:55it's overwhelmingly in Republican
35. 0:57dominated states where you see these
36. 0:58laws enacted. And that's because all
37. 1:00things being equal, Americans who do not
38. 1:02have IDs reliably vote for Democrats.
39. 1:04Now, Republicans would argue that voter
40. 1:06ID laws decrease the possibility of
41. 1:08voter fraud. But Democrats point to a
42. 1:10growing body of research that indicates
43. 1:11that voter fraud is not a serious threat
44. 1:13and almost never happens. and therefore
45. 1:15these laws only serve to keep minorities
46. 1:17out of the voting booth. So whichever
47. 1:19side you agree with is not the point
48. 1:20here. The point is that voter ID laws
49. 1:22can be a structural barrier to voting.
50. 1:24Second, political efficacy can affect
51. 1:25who votes. And political efficacy is a
52. 1:27citizen's belief about whether their
53. 1:29vote matters. For example, if you're a
54. 1:31Republican and you live in a state that
55. 1:32has always elected Democrats by large
56. 1:34margins, then when it comes time to
57. 1:36vote, you might not feel that your vote
58. 1:37really matters. They're going to elect a
59. 1:39Democrat whether I vote or not, so I
60. 1:40might as well spend that time doing
61. 1:42something productive like shaving my
62. 1:43back hair. And if that's the case, it
63. 1:45might keep a person from voting. Another
64. 1:46factor that influences a person's sense
65. 1:48of their political efficacy is the
66. 1:49politician's performance in office. So
67. 1:51if I voted for a candidate and they were
68. 1:53elected and then they turned out to be a
69. 1:55real turd in office by breaking promises
70. 1:57or involving themselves in scandal, well
71. 1:59then maybe I won't vote next time
72. 2:00because you know what's the point? And
73. 2:01the same is true in the opposite
74. 2:02direction. Like if the politicians that
75. 2:04I elected have done well and they've
76. 2:05kept their promises or there's a growing
77. 2:07sense that my state might flip to the
78. 2:09opposite party, then it cranks up my
79. 2:11sense of political efficacy quick, fast,
80. 2:13and in a hurry. Third, demographics can
81. 2:14affect who votes. In a previous video, I
82. 2:16mentioned that senior citizens
83. 2:17consistently vote in the highest
84. 2:19numbers, and a lot of factors go into
85. 2:20this. It could be that with age, they
86. 2:22have a better sense of how the political
87. 2:24system works and have developed a better
88. 2:25understanding of the issues at stake and
89. 2:27their potential implications. Or maybe
90. 2:29it could be at that age, they feel that
91. 2:31they have more of a stake for their
92. 2:32financial investments or their health or
93. 2:34whatever. The point is, if you're a
94. 2:35member of that demographic, you are more
95. 2:37likely to vote than any other group. On
96. 2:38the opposite side of the demographic
97. 2:40spectrum, 18 to 21 year olds are the
98. 2:42least likely to vote. This could be
99. 2:43because they don't yet feel like they
100. 2:44have a sense of what the issues are.
101. 2:46Perhaps they simply don't know how to
102. 2:48register or where to go to cast their
103. 2:49ballot. Regardless, if you're in this
104. 2:51demographic, you're much less likely to
105. 2:53vote than you will be toward the later
106. 2:54years of your life. Fourth, the type of
107. 2:56election can affect voter turnout as
108. 2:58well. And this is true not only in the
109. 2:59United States, but in basically all
110. 3:00democracies across the world. For
111. 3:02example, national elections see more
112. 3:03participation than state and local
113. 3:05elections. According to Pew Researchers,
114. 3:0766.2% of eligible voters cast a ballot
115. 3:10in the 2020 presidential election.
116. 3:12Compare that to the 2018 midterm
117. 3:13elections, which are congressional
118. 3:14elections halfway through a presidential
119. 3:16term, and you see only 53.4% of voters
120. 3:19casting a ballot. Now, I should mention
121. 3:20that those two numbers that I just set
122. 3:22before you are roughly one to two metric
123. 3:24buttloads more people voting than in
124. 3:26previous years. Those numbers are
125. 3:27actually historically high compared to
126. 3:29the last few decades. But the point that
127. 3:31I'm making here is that more people vote
128. 3:32in the presidential election than in the
129. 3:34congressional midterm elections. And
130. 3:35even fewer people vote in state
131. 3:37elections and then fewer people vote in
132. 3:39local elections. So, the type of
133. 3:41election affects who votes. Now, all of
134. 3:43those four factors can determine whether
135. 3:44people vote. But we also need to go one
136. 3:46step further. For those people who do
137. 3:48vote, what factors affect their choices?
138. 3:50And here, I've just got a junk drawer of
139. 3:52options for you. So, depending on the
140. 3:53person, some of these factors play more
141. 3:55of a role than others. First, a person's
142. 3:57party identification or ideological
143. 3:59orientation will play a role in how they
144. 4:01vote. And look, that should be obvious.
145. 4:02Like, if a person is a registered
146. 4:03Republican or unregistered and
147. 4:05identifies as a Republican, who do you
148. 4:06think that person's going to vote for?
149. 4:08Uh, Republican. That's right, me from
150. 4:10that side of the screen. Well done. Or
151. 4:11even if a person doesn't identify with a
152. 4:13party and they hold to a liberal
153. 4:14ideological orientation, they're likely
154. 4:16going to vote Democrat and vice versa
155. 4:18for conservatives and Republicans.
156. 4:20Second, candidate characteristics can
157. 4:21play a role in how people vote as well.
158. 4:23Some people just consider the character
159. 4:24of the candidates, like does this person
160. 4:26seem likable, trustworthy, and honest?
161. 4:28Well, you know, in that case, they have
162. 4:29my vote. Third, contemporary political
163. 4:30issues might affect how a person votes.
164. 4:32For example, if you don't like the
165. 4:33employer mask mandate being enacted by
166. 4:35Democrats right now, it might lead a
167. 4:36person to vote against the Democrats in
168. 4:38the next election. Or if you don't like
169. 4:39the voter ID laws that I mentioned
170. 4:41earlier, which are favored by
171. 4:42Republicans, you might end up voting
172. 4:43against them in the next election. And
173. 4:45those are just a couple of examples.
174. 4:46Usually, a voter is responding to a
175. 4:47whole constellation of similar political
176. 4:49issues. Fourth, a person's religious
177. 4:51beliefs or gender or race or ethnicity
178. 4:53might affect how they vote as well. This
179. 4:54is why the candidate Donald Trump spent
180. 4:56a great deal of time courting white
181. 4:58evangelical Christians. To a pretty
182. 4:59significant degree, white evangelicals
183. 5:01are a powerful voting block, which means
184. 5:03they often vote in the same way. And if
185. 5:05you're a member of that group, it could
186. 5:06feel almost sacriiggious to vote in a
187. 5:08way that counters that group. Or take
188. 5:09gender. If you're a woman, you're more
189. 5:11likely to vote Democrat, but if you're a
190. 5:12man, you're more likely to vote
191. 5:14Republican. Again, these are just
192. 5:15observed trends, but all of these
193. 5:16demographic factors can play a role in
194. 5:18how a person votes. Okay, thanks for
195. 5:20watching. Click right here to review
196. 5:21packet, which is going to help you get
197. 5:22an A in your class and a five on your
198. 5:23exam in Maine. And if you were helped by
199. 5:24this video and you want me to keep
200. 5:26making them, then you can cast your vote
201. 5:27for me to keep making them by
202. 5:28subscribing. And I don't care what
203. 5:30demographic you belong to, your vote
204. 5:32will be heard. I'll catch you in the
205. 5:33next one. I'm out.