political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, political apathy is a lack of interest or

apathy Apathy is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern about something. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of intere ...

towards

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

. It can consist of interest apathy,

voter apathy In political science, voter apathy is a lack of interest among voters in the elections of representative democracies. Voter apathy or lack of interest is often cited as a cause of low turnout among eligible voters in jurisdictions where vo ...

, and information apathy. It can be categorized as the indifference of an individual and a lack of interest in participating in political activities. This includes lack of interest in

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

s, political events, public meetings, and

voting Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

. Collective political apathy can lower

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

. Political apathy is often found among younger voters, the poor, and

minority group The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

s. The Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy (CIRCLE) breaks down youths into different groups, Broadly Engaged (19%), Political Specialists (19%) and Only Voted (18%), with the rest clustered into Civically Alienated (16%), Politically Marginalized (14%) and Engaged Non-Voters (14%). In 2010, only 21% of youths eligible to vote in the United States between ages 18–21 voted or were politically active.

United States

In the 2016 presidential election in the U.S., turnout was 54.8% while in the midterm elections of 2018 the turnout rate of 50.0% and in the midterm elections of 2014 there was a historic low of 36.7% turnout to the elections. Based on government data, in the last 60 years eligible voters that have cast a ballot has ranged from 49 to 63%. The highest turnout occurred in the 1960 election in which President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

was elected, while the lowest turnout occurred in 1996 with the

for President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. In a

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

study on "Interested Bystanders," experts discovered that 48.9% of people in America are paying attention to the political world but not voicing any opinion on the matter (non-voting, non-volunteering for campaigns etc.), thus increasing political, and voter apathy in America.

United Kingdom

In the UK, like many other western liberal democracies, there has been a steady decline in turnout in general elections over recent decades. After a peak in the 1950 General election with 83.9% turnout in the UK steadily declining to ultimately an all time low turnout of 59.4% in the 2001 General election. Low turnout and disengagement in elections and the political process is more prevalent in younger voters. In addition to declining turnout over recent decades trust in the government has fallen also leading to disengagement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Political Apathy Political terminology

United States

United Kingdom

See also

References