Americans Suck at Civic Engagement

In the US, it seems that most people’s idea of civic engagement is posting political memes on Facebook expressing how incompetent the opposing party is. The scenario goes like this:

• Trump says something outrageous
• People post memes on social media
• Get in debate in comments sections
• No one’s opinions change
• Wait for next outrageous incident

But when it comes to taking action and being engaged in the political process, Americans suck. The US ranks near the bottom for voter turnout compared to other developed nations. In 2016’s presidential election, voter turnout was a measly 55.7%.

*National law makes voting compulsory. In addition, one Swiss canton has compulsory voting.
Source: Pew Research Center calculations based on data from International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, European Election Database, United States Election Project, Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and various national election authorities. Link to Source

There are seemingly obvious solutions to our embarrassingly low federal election turnouts like automatic or mandatory voter enrollment, making election day a federal holiday (or at least move it to a weekend), and adding more convenient voting options (preferably online voting, but that’s a whole other issue in itself). These are not new or radical ideas and they are starting to get traction through politicians like Bernie Sanders.

But civic engagement isn’t just about voting. It’s about involving our citizens in the entire decision-making process. And the responsibility isn’t all on the citizens. Governments could do a lot better…