‘United States of Apathy’: Where does Illinois rank in political engagement?

That’s not a terrible rank (though it’s not great), but it seems that even the most politically engaged states aren’t up to snuff when it comes to their residents truly participating in democracy.

From WalletHub:

Civic participation is a key ingredient of a well-functioning democracy, and voter turnout is one measure of the public’s trust in government. But with a growing lack of political engagement from its citizens, the United States of America might soon rename itself the United States of Apathy.

According to WalletHub, 15 out of 25 statewide primary elections reported record-low voter turnout in 2014. Only about 15 percent of voters participated, compared to about 18 percent in 2010, the last midterm election. Apparently, voter turnout has dropped consistently in the U.S. since the 1960′s, making the U.S. among the democratic countries with the lowest voter turnout overall. WalletHub blames this sad state of affairs partially on a lack of civic education in American schools.

The study also found that political engagement tends to track along income, political and educational lines. States with a more educated populous, fairer taxes and higher GDP per capita tended to be more politically engaged, as these charts show. Illinois ranked as a “mixed,” middle-of-the-road state in these categories, except for tax fairness, where it ranked poorly (at 47).

The study also found that blue states tend to be more politically engaged that red states. Democratic-leaning states had an average engagement ranking of 21.3, while Republican-leaning states had an average engagement ranking of 31.13 (the lower the score, the higher the engagement).

This interactive map shows each state’s political engagement rank, plus the District of Columbia, based on voter turnout in 2012, registered voters and the states that have the most campaign contributions by residents.

The states with the highest engagement were Massachusetts, Colorado, Minnesota, D.C. and Wisconsin. The states with the least engagement were West Virginia, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Texas and Utah. Illinois was tied with Georgia at number 27.

Even though 27 is an average score out of 50, the turn out from the 2012 election cannot be compared with projected turnouts in this year’s statewide and congressional elections. Years with presidential elections tend to have a higher turnout. Perhaps that 27 should actually be reason for concern after all. In 2012, the year for which these rankings are based, an incumbent president from Illinois was up for reelection, which may have boosted turnout, and yet the state still ranked lower than most states.

In 2012, Illinois’ youth voter turnout (voters 18 to 24) ranked as number 35 in the nation, with about 35 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot. Senior citizen turnout in Illinos in 2012, with almost 71 percent of older voters voting, ranked a little better than the state’s electorate overall, at 26. Mississippi, Minnesota and Colorado had the highest percentage of 18 to 24-year-olds turn out to vote in 2012.

In 2012, Mississippi had the highest percentage of residents registered to vote, but the District of Columbia had the highest percentage of actual turnout (Mississippi came in second). Hawaii had the fewest people registered, but West Virginians actually showed up in the lowest percentage in the country. In 2010, the last midterm election year, Maine had the highest percentage of citizens that turned up to vote, while Texas had the lowest.

D.C., Virginia and New York have the highest campaign contributions per capita, while Idaho, Utah and Indiana have the lowest.

States have different populations, political makeups and electoral concerns, which means rates of political engagement can differ based on how much reward residents of a particular state get from being politically engaged there. Political Science Professor Eric B. Herzik, from the University of Nevada, Reno explained:

This is a long time question in political science. You can’t dismiss demographic factors such as education levels and age of the population. There is also a “cultural” explanation which is really linked to historical trends. Several states have traditionally higher levels of voter participation and civic engagement such as Wisconsin, Minnesota and Utah, while other states (i.e Nevada and many Southern states) have long histories of lower voter turnout. The specific factors behind such historical trends are a bit murky, but the trend remains. Another set of factors are far more situational. If you have very competitive races and better organized parties (supporting get out the vote efforts) then you see a bump in interest and turnout. This is in large part why I singled out the states above – you have competitive races in which parties are fully committed. 

Herzik and and other political science experts, including Kansas State University Professor Laurie M. Johnson and University of California, Santa Barbara Professor Stephen Weatherford, said classic campaign strategies are still the best way to get people involved in the political process. They advised candidates to knock on doors, meet potential constiuents face to face, get voters to share with their social networks and make get-out-the-vote calls.

Herzik said he expects Alaska, Colorado, Georgia and Kansas to have “fairly good turnout” for the 2014 midterms because of the contentious nature of the races there. With Illinois’ governor’s race polls remaining tight, maybe we can add Illinois to that high-turnout list.

To view the full study, click here.

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Caitlin Wilson is a staff writer for Reboot Illinois. She graduated from Loyola University Chicago, where she studied journalism and political science. Caitlin has become both endeared to and frustrated with her adopted home state and wants to bring Illinoisans the information they need to actively participate in the politics that directly affect them.  You can find Reboot on Facebook here and on Twitter at @rebootillinois.