Developing the Political Citizen: Uncovering the Origins of Political Attitudes and Opinions (2019-2020)
This Bass Connections project examined the development and measurement of political attitudes and voting behavior in the United States. The project team continued work begun in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 that focuses on understanding the political attitudes and behavior of young voters (and nonvoters).
Team members conducted surveys, held interviews, and evaluated policy reforms. They found that young people are not apathetic (surveys show high levels of political interest and intention to vote), but they fail to follow through on civic intentions due to personal and institutional barriers. Possible policy solutions evaluated include rethinking civic education and electoral reforms to make registration and voting easier.
Timing
Summer 2019 – Spring 2020
Team Outputs
Converting Civic Attitudes into Civic Action (Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Virtual Showcase 2020)
Making Young Voters: Converting Civic Attitudes into Civic Action (poster by Donovan Bendana, Lindsay Campbell, Edgar Cook, Austin Connor, Carter Forinash, Chloe Golfinos, Chelsea Hamlet, Amanda Kang, Caroline Kincaid, Sakiko Nishida, Stefanie Pousoulides, Tina Tucker)
Audio
Capturing the Millennial and Gen Z Vote
Charlotte Talks: Will Young Voters Get Off the Sidelines in 2020?
Reflection
This Team in the News
A Wish for Super Tuesday: Get Young People to Vote
Why Many Young Folks Don’t Vote. How to Change It
Duke University Professor Co-authors Book Exploring How to Get Young People to Polls
Why Young People Don’t Vote – And How to Fix That
This project team was originally part of the Education & Human Development theme of Bass Connections, which ended in 2022. See earlier related team, Making Young Voters: Policy Reforms to Increase Youth Turnout (2018-2019).
Image: Day 036: Primary, by Jess Liotta and Colin Liotta, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0