Comments on: || Age, Race, Ethnicity, and Electoral Competition in the 2008 Election. http://thepolity.net/wordpress/2009/10/19/age-race-ethnicity-and-electoral-competition-in-the-2008-election/ Toward more sustainable ways of connecting citizens and government Tue, 04 May 2010 12:37:53 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Anthony Mucci http://thepolity.net/wordpress/2009/10/19/age-race-ethnicity-and-electoral-competition-in-the-2008-election/comment-page-1/#comment-38 Anthony Mucci Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:38:42 +0000 http://thepolity.net/wordpress/?p=91#comment-38 The actual information is really startling and the Obama campaign's approach to increased mobility is something useful that I think would be useful not just in future campaigns but in civic education and that sort of thing in general; it's interesting to think about how increased diversity in the government itself overall would further increase turnout among differing minorities (kind of going with the thing in paragraph 6 about increased turnout depending on minorities in positions of power.) Something else I'm interested in is the role of class - that is, specifically, economic class and income levels - in an election like this; did the Obama campaign's techniques for mobilization influence the participation of the economically disadvantaged, and if it did which of these tactics can we use to increase participation and engagement by the politically inactive, economically disadvantaged individuals in the system who, largely, are some of the least active? According to Schlozman, Verba and Brady, political engagement in America is very clearly stratified by class levels, something indicative of how much of a 'money' game politics can be here. The data seems to show the poor give less time and money (which is understandable), but also participate less overall in other political activity; in addition, those in lower social strata also show low levels of susceptibility to recruitment devices; recruitment is self-serving in that it intentionally targets those who are more likely to be active or return to being active, and there is little interest in bringing any 'new blood' into the political game. All these factors together have created a severe gap in participation that we should naturally try to bridge if we are to ensure equal representation for different social groups in our political system; can the tools that brought out so many voters in this election for president Obama be used effectively here, applied to a new demographic? Or have they already? The correlation between racial dynamics and social class seem strongly interrelated; nonwhite families in America on average have significant less net worth than white families, particularly among the black community. With the Obama campaign's success in bringing out these minorities, has this changed the social class aspect of political participation at all? It'd be interesting to look and see if there are relationships or anything to be explored here, I think. The actual information is really startling and the Obama campaign’s approach to increased mobility is something useful that I think would be useful not just in future campaigns but in civic education and that sort of thing in general; it’s interesting to think about how increased diversity in the government itself overall would further increase turnout among differing minorities (kind of going with the thing in paragraph 6 about increased turnout depending on minorities in positions of power.)

Something else I’m interested in is the role of class – that is, specifically, economic class and income levels – in an election like this; did the Obama campaign’s techniques for mobilization influence the participation of the economically disadvantaged, and if it did which of these tactics can we use to increase participation and engagement by the politically inactive, economically disadvantaged individuals in the system who, largely, are some of the least active? According to Schlozman, Verba and Brady, political engagement in America is very clearly stratified by class levels, something indicative of how much of a ‘money’ game politics can be here. The data seems to show the poor give less time and money (which is understandable), but also participate less overall in other political activity; in addition, those in lower social strata also show low levels of susceptibility to recruitment devices; recruitment is self-serving in that it intentionally targets those who are more likely to be active or return to being active, and there is little interest in bringing any ‘new blood’ into the political game. All these factors together have created a severe gap in participation that we should naturally try to bridge if we are to ensure equal representation for different social groups in our political system; can the tools that brought out so many voters in this election for president Obama be used effectively here, applied to a new demographic?

Or have they already? The correlation between racial dynamics and social class seem strongly interrelated; nonwhite families in America on average have significant less net worth than white families, particularly among the black community. With the Obama campaign’s success in bringing out these minorities, has this changed the social class aspect of political participation at all? It’d be interesting to look and see if there are relationships or anything to be explored here, I think.

]]> By: Christopher Gould http://thepolity.net/wordpress/2009/10/19/age-race-ethnicity-and-electoral-competition-in-the-2008-election/comment-page-1/#comment-37 Christopher Gould Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:03:21 +0000 http://thepolity.net/wordpress/?p=91#comment-37 I thought it was interesting that you proposed more minorities running for office as the key to increasing minority voting turnout. Along the same line of thought, do you think that a failure by the Obama administration to implement meaningful policies would result in an inevitable decrease in minority turnout in future elections? You made mention that several forces allowed the democratic candidate to prevail in the last election including a very unpopular incumbent president, an equally unpopular war, and a historic economic crisis just before the election. Although the unpopular president is gone, do you think that if the war in Iraq is still going on and if the economy hasn't turned around, that it would result in an equal decline in voter turnout in the next election because minorities would be frustrated? The Healthcare bill currently trying to make its way through Congress would definitely serve as reason enough for minorities to return for the election in 2012. However, if the bill dies, as predicted by some political commentators, wouldn't this result in a disappointment by the minorities that would inevitably decrease the projected turnout regardless of whether or not a minority was running for office? Additionally, the lack of jobs would seemingly prove to yield a similar result. I was just wondering if you thought these factors could play a role in altering the projected turnout. Thank you. I thought it was interesting that you proposed more minorities running for office as the key to increasing minority voting turnout. Along the same line of thought, do you think that a failure by the Obama administration to implement meaningful policies would result in an inevitable decrease in minority turnout in future elections? You made mention that several forces allowed the democratic candidate to prevail in the last election including a very unpopular incumbent president, an equally unpopular war, and a historic economic crisis just before the election. Although the unpopular president is gone, do you think that if the war in Iraq is still going on and if the economy hasn’t turned around, that it would result in an equal decline in voter turnout in the next election because minorities would be frustrated? The Healthcare bill currently trying to make its way through Congress would definitely serve as reason enough for minorities to return for the election in 2012. However, if the bill dies, as predicted by some political commentators, wouldn’t this result in a disappointment by the minorities that would inevitably decrease the projected turnout regardless of whether or not a minority was running for office? Additionally, the lack of jobs would seemingly prove to yield a similar result. I was just wondering if you thought these factors could play a role in altering the projected turnout. Thank you.

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