nonvoters
http://pewresearch.org/reports/?ReportID=58
Who Votes, Who Doesn�t and Why
How Voters and Non-Voters Differ
October 18, 2006
They vote but not always. Compared with Americans who regularly cast
ballots, they are less engaged in politics. They are more likely to
be bored with the political process and admit they often do not know
enough about candidates to cast ballots. But they are crucial to
Republican and Democratic fortunes in the Nov. 7 midterm elections.
They are the intermittent voters: Americans who are registered to
vote but do not always make it to the polls. They differ
significantly from those who vote regularly. For one thing, they’re
less likely to be married than are regular voters. Intermittent
voters also are more mistrustful of people compared with those who
vote regularly. They also are less angry with government, though no
less dissatisfied with President Bush than are regular voters,
according to a survey conducted Sept. 21-Oct. 4 among 1,804 adults by
the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press in collaboration
with the Associated Press.
The survey also finds large differences between Americans who are not
registered to vote or vote only rarely, and intermittent or regular
voters. The two groups at the bottom of the voting participation
scale are much less likely than regular or intermittent voters to
believe that voting will make much of a difference. They also are
less likely to agree with the statement: “I feel guilty when I don’t
get a chance to vote.”
[full report: http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=292]