After the election of 1960 a discouraging trend of low voter turnout appeared in our political system. In the presidential election of 1960 there was a 63.1% turnout of the voting age population. In the years following this election, we have seen an average decrease of (calculat

There are many suspected reasons for the low voter turnout in the United States and across the world. The first thing one should look at is the change from party centered politics to candidate centered politics. E. E. Schattsschneider wrote that “political parties created democracy.” He was referring to how political parties were the ones to get out and mobilize the electorate. The political parties during this time fought for the rights for more people to vote and then put their efforts into getting the newly enfranchised people to the polls to vote for their candidates. The parties not the candidates were the driving force in getting people to the polls. One should note that in the1960’s is when the political system began the move from party to candidate oriented politics and this also happens to be the time that the voter turnout began to drop. It would appear that the candidates themselves are not as effective or are not putting the effort into trying to mobilize the electorate. One cause of this could be that people wer

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