Apathy Politics
Political apathy
In political science, political apathy is a feeling of disinterest or apathy towards politics.[1] It can consist of interest apathy, voter apathy, and information apathy. It can be categorized as the indifference of an individual and a lack of interest in participating in political activities.[2] This includes lack of interest in elections, political events, public meetings, and voting.[3] Political apathy can lead to low voter turnout and stagnation in a state's government.[4][5] Political apathy can lead to a loss of democracy and respondents mentioned it can also have social and psychological damage due to lack of personal political interaction.[6] According to North American Review, lack of participation can lead to "political ills" such as corruption and dishonesty among politicians as they are not held accountable.[7] Countries with mandatory voting have seen less occurrences of political and voter apathy. In Belgium, political participation is at 87.2%, while in Turkey, it is 84.3%. [8]
Political apathy is often found among younger voters, the poor, and minority groups.[9] The Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy (CIRCLE) breaks down youths into different groups, Broadly Engaged (19%), Political Specialists (19%) and Only Voted (18%), with the rest clustered into Civically Alienated (16%), Politically Marginalized (14%) and Engaged Non-Voters (14%).[10] In 2010, only 21% of youths eligible to vote in the United States between ages 18–21 voted or were politically active.[11]
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