POST 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship, Representative Democracy, Superdelegate
18 Jul 2016
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Document Summary
Elections are the defining characteristic of representative democracies. It is through our votes that we hold elected officials accountable. A single individual"s vote is rarely decisive because few elections are decided by a single vote. The fact that citizens vote even though a single vote rarely decides an election. The most important demographic variables are education, income, and age. The more education a person has, the more likely the person is to vote. Among people with the same education, the more income a person has the more likely he or she is to vote. As people grow older, they are more likely to vote (at least until they become very old) People who are educated, have high incomes, and are older are more likely to care about and pay attention to politics. The competitiveness of elections is important to voters. The closer the race, the greater the interest, attention and participation during the campaign and on election day itself.
