[People have been positing opinions about non-voting] Some people at the school of journalism at Northwestern U. (Ellen Shearer I think was involved) just finished a large and quite interesting national study of the U. S. non voter. I do not have the results in front of me, but I do remember that they lumped non voters into 5 categories and they were quite a diverse group. I cannot speak for the accuracy of the results or the methodology but the reported results were noteworthy. I remember that around a third are well-off, well-educated, younger, well-informed progressive/left/liberal types (you know the type) who love to claim that the non-voter is the poor oppressed slob who does not see any potential for change. About 20% were identified by the study as "irritables" (I interpreted these people to be rightish and leftish), well-off, older folks pissed off at government or the election process. About half chose not to vote and the other half just didn't. About half (not the same half) believe in "government" and the other half were quite distrustful of "government". The study does not contradict the general notion that higher registration and turn out would move elections in a slightly Democratic direction in the U.S. However, nothing in the study indicates that higher turnout would mean any great progressive/left movement as well. I think if one organizes politically around left issues you will find an untapped following, its just not as large as some optimistically project. Jim Westrich University of Illinois at Chicago Institute on Disability and Human Development "Have you seen the Democrats around town? They look like such nice people. They have these nice red, white, and blue badges. But if you bend down you smell the stench of death coming off of them." --Jon Langford during The Mekons Big Band Labor Day Raid
