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This research centers on the linkage between alienation and voter turnout, by considering the various dimensions of alienation-powerlessness, meaninglessness, and cynicism-and how they might interact to influence the decision on whether to vote. Logit analysis of a pooled American National Election Study data set, 1964-2000, suggests that feelings of powerlessness and meaninglessness depress turnout, as expected. However, increased cynicism can serve to boost turnout among those who display only a moderate amount of powerlessness or meaningless, therefore underscoring an important interactive effect of cynicism on voter turnout. During the past three decades, American have become less attached to the two major political parties, more cynical about elected officials and political institutions, and less confident in their own abilities to influence the political system. This research examines the link between this increase in alienated attitudes and the parallel decline in voter turnout during this same time period. Our approach is that such attitudinal factors contribute as much to the explanation of the voting decision as do the standard demographic and contextual explanations of voter turnout.
Nearly every public opinion poll taken since 1964 has shown a dramatic decline in the public confidence in political leaders and institutions. Surveys conducted by the University of Michigan's Center for Political Studies confirm this trend, as presented in Figure 1 below.1 Other surveys have also confirmed this trend (Council for Excellence in Government 1997; Pew Research Center 1998.)
This increase in political alienation has been influenced and shaped by the direction of governmental policies or specific actions taken by political leaders during this time period. The growing disillusionment with the conduct of the Vietnam War under the Johnson and Nixon Administrations, coupled with the urban unrest that erupted in the late 1960s, certainly affected the general public's assessment of the capabilities and competence of public and party officials (Tolchin 1998). The slowly evolving revelations of Watergate, with widespread implications for other political figures outside of the Nixon White House, led many Americans to question the impact of the electoral process when large campaign contributors were shown to have influenced major decisions ranging from government contracts to ambassadorial posts. As additional political scandals from Abscam and the Iran-Contra affair to President Clinton's impeachment trial unfolded in subsequent decades, these feelings...