Discusses declining voter participation in recent Presidential elections. The report places recent declines in historical perspective by examining voter participation in each of the Presidential elections from the early days of the country to th.

"The raffish epigraphs of a comic, George Carlin, and a poet, W.B. Yeats, set the tone for this exciting, revelatory and altogether important work. The question: Why are there so many no-shows on Election Day? Thirty thoughtful Americans-as good a cross section as you can get-tell us in a varied and astonishing manner." -Studs Terkel, author "So much has been said (with so little knowledge) about America′s nonvoting majority. This intriguing book at last introduces us to the people who do not vote, dispels many of the myths about them, and shows us the depth of their disconnection from the political process. Through their revealing interviews and compelling conclusions, Jack C. Doppelt and Ellen Shearer illuminate the varied reasons that so many Americans find so little meaning in politics. Nonvoters shows us the futility of current efforts to woo nonvoters; it also enables us for the first time to understand how complex and deep-seated this important issue is." -Geneva Overholser, Washington Post syndicated columnist "Fascinating and important. This book gives us new and significant insights." -Paul Simon, Former United States Senator "Jack C. Doppelt and Ellen Shearer have brought the energy and open minds that mark the best reporters to look at the other half, at the 51% majority of the electorate who chose to stay away from the polls in 1996. They found "a Pandora′s box of dueling realities" that call into question the easy assumptions about nonvoters—that they′re low-income, poorly educated, and generally uninformed. The reality turns out to be considerably more complicated. The authors and their dispersed across the country to talk to the nonvoters themselves. Their voices ring through this thoughtful book." -Susan Page, White House Bureau Chief, USA TODAY, and President, White House Correspondents′ Association In Nonvoters: America′s No-Shows, Doppelt and Shearer reveal the findings of their national survey and interviews with nonvoting Americans. Though they discovered a diverse array of opinions and reasons for not voting, they also found that nonvoters clustered into five types: "doers," "unpluggeds," "irritables," "don′t knows," and "alienateds." This book contains the stories of the people who don′t vote as well as the authors′ analyses of this troubling phenomenon in American politics. The authors consider voting behavior in local, off-year, and presidential elections, debunking the myths of why the majority of Americans decide to be "no shows" on election day. This groundbreaking study and insightful perspectives of 30 representative nonvoters will prove fascinating to anyone interested in politics and human behavior, whether as part of a campaign′s dialogue, a classroom study, or a living room discussion.

A diverse body of research exists to explain why eligible voters don't go to the polls on election day. Theories span from the psychological (nonvoters have limited emotional engagement with politics and therefore lack motivation), to the social (politics is inherently social and nonvoters have limited networks), and the personal (nonvoters tend to be young, less educated, poor, and highly mobile). Other scholars suggest that people don't vote because campaigns are uninspiring. This book poses a new theory: uncertainty about the national context at the time of the election. During times of national crisis, when uncertainty is high, citizens are motivated to sort through information about each candidate to figure out which would best mitigate their uncertainty. When external uncertainty is low, however, citizens spend less time learning about candidates and are equally unmotivated to vote. The American Nonvoter examines how uncertainty regarding changing economic conditions, dramatic national events, and U.S. international interventions influences people's decisions whether to vote or not. Using rigorous statistical tools and rich historical stories, Lyn Ragsdale and Jerrold G. Rusk test this theory on aggregate nonvoting patterns in the United States across presidential and midterm elections from 1920 to 2012. The authors also challenge the stereotype of nonvoters as poor, uneducated and apathetic. Instead, the book shows that nonvoters are, by and large, as politically knowledgeable as voters, but see no difference between candidates or view them negatively.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER "A profound book.... It will break your heart but also leave you with hope." —J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy "[A] deeply empathetic book." —The Economist With stark photo essays and unforgettable true stories, Chris Arnade cuts through "expert" pontification on inequality, addiction, and poverty to allow those who have been left behind to define themselves on their own terms. After abandoning his Wall Street career, Chris Arnade decided to document poverty and addiction in the Bronx. He began interviewing, photographing, and becoming close friends with homeless addicts, and spent hours in drug dens and McDonald's. Then he started driving across America to see how the rest of the country compared. He found the same types of stories everywhere, across lines of race, ethnicity, religion, and geography. The people he got to know, from Alabama and California to Maine and Nevada, gave Arnade a new respect for the dignity and resilience of what he calls America's Back Row--those who lack the credentials and advantages of the so-called meritocratic upper class. The strivers in the Front Row, with their advanced degrees and upward mobility, see the Back Row's values as worthless. They scorn anyone who stays in a dying town or city as foolish, and mock anyone who clings to religion or tradition as naïve. As Takeesha, a woman in the Bronx, told Arnade, she wants to be seen she sees herself: "a prostitute, a mother of six, and a child of God." This book is his attempt to help the rest of us truly see, hear, and respect millions of people who've been left behind.

The solution to youth voter turnout requires focus on helping young people follow through on their political interests and intentions.

The first edition of Get Out the Vote! broke ground by introducing a new scientific approach to the challenge of voter mobilization and profoundly influenced how campaigns operate. In this expanded and updated edition, the authors incorporate data from more than one hundred new studies, which shed new light on the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of various campaign tactics, including door-to-door canvassing, e-mail, direct mail, and telephone calls. Two new chapters focus on the effectiveness of mass media campaigns and events such as candidate forums and Election Day festivals. Available in time for the core of the 2008 presidential campaign, this practical guide on voter mobilization is sure to be an important resource for consultants, candidates, and grassroots organizations. Praise for the first edition: "Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber have studied turnout for years. Their findings, based on dozens of controlled experiments done as part of actual campaigns, are summarized in a slim and readable new book called Get Out the Vote!, which is bound to become a bible for politicians and activists of all stripes." —Alan B. Kreuger, in the New York Times "Get Out the Vote! shatters conventional wisdom about GOTV." —Hal Malchow in Campaigns & Elections "Green and Gerber's recent book represents important innovations in the study of turnout."—Political Science Review "Green and Gerber have provided a valuable resource for grassroots campaigns across the spectrum."—National Journal