Overcoming Apathy Amidst Lackluster Presidential Candidates
In the realm of civic engagement, the impending presidential elections have presented an unexpected challenge. With Donald Trump and Joe Biden failing to ignite enthusiasm among the electorate, organizations dedicated to boosting voter turnout grapple with a pervasive sense of apathy.
Though the top of the ticket may fail to inspire action, education around down-ballot elections presents a strong opportunity to rebuild a sense of empowerment amongst voters.
In this article, we delve into nuanced strategies to inspire action among voters, primarily young voters.
The Apathy Conundrum
A recent poll from AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs shows a sense of apathy, across political ideologies when faced with a Trump/Biden rematch in 2024.
“We’re down to the lesser of two evils,” said Randy Johnson from Monett, Missouri, sharing both his own sentiments and sentiments of large swaths of American voters.
This pervasive sense of apathy poses a challenge for organizations seeking to boost civic engagement and voter turnout. Historically, the presidential election acts as a strong catalyst towards voter action, with turnout in presidential years nearly double that of midterm elections and odd-year elections.
How can civic engagement organizations effectively navigate this widespread apathy and, more importantly, motivate individuals to cast their ballots despite the perceived lackluster choices?
Understanding Voter Psychology: What makes a motivated voter?
We’ve found ourselves here before. In March of 2020, just three months before the Georgia 2020 primary elections, Democratic Primary candidates began clearing the field and stepping behind the future President, Joe Biden.
The Ballot Builder team asked the question: how can we motivate voters without a presidential race at the top of the ticket?
Our team conducted a series of surveys, interviews, and focus groups with voters across Georgia. Across the 200 participants, we identified two broad groups:
Highly-engaged voters (defined as people who voted in 2 or more elections every 4 years)
Intermittent voters and nonvoters (defined as people who voted in less than 2 elections every 4 years)
We poured over the differences between these two groups, including differences in age, education level, and party affiliation.
There was one surprising factor that ended up being the biggest differentiator between the two groups.
We asked participants, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how impactful would you say your vote is?”.
On average, intermittent and non-voters reported the impact of their vote at 8 out of 10. Meanwhile, highly engaged voters reported an average impact of 5 out of 10.
Read that again. The less engaged voters believed their vote was more impactful than the highly-engaged voters did.
So if highly-engaged voters admitted to their vote being less impactful, why did they consistently show up to vote more frequently than the group of intermittent voters?
As usual, the details hold the answers.
While actively engaged in the democratic process, the subset of highly-engaged voters perceives their impact on presidential elections as minimal, citing a sense of being one among millions and frustration with the Electoral College system. Many participants rated the impact of their vote as a 1 or 2 on a scale of 10, when asked specifically about presidential elections.
However, a compelling paradox emerges as these same individuals express a profound belief in the transformative power of their vote in state and local elections. These same highly-engaged voters rated the impact of their vote as 9 or 10 when talking about state and local elections.
This group of highly-motivated voters included individuals of various ages, demographics, and economic backgrounds. What tied them together, apart from their propensity to vote every year, was a strong understanding of the importance of their vote in state and local elections.
Unlocking the Potential of Down-Ballot Impact
A promising strategy emerges—one that involves shifting the spotlight onto down-ballot elections. Anyone in civic engagement or politics knows the immense impact that congressional, state, and local elections can have on policy and governance.
But the problem is most voters don’t understand the impact of these roles. This is especially true amongst young voters or 1st generation voters, who do not have a long history with local government.
According to the US Vote Foundation, more than a third of voters don’t fill out their entire ballot. Even amongst those that do, many report not knowing much about the the candidates or specific duties of state and local offices.
This is where civic engagement organizations can have the most impact. By showcasing real-world examples of local policies shaped by elected officials, organizations can bridge the knowledge gap and foster a deeper connection between voters and their local elections.
How to Best Message Local Elections
Sample messaging from one of Branch’s campaigns run during Atlanta’s 2021 local elections.
By emphasizing the tangible outcomes of local decision-making, organizations can reframe the narrative and instill a sense of civic duty among their target audience.
Connecting with voters on a personal level involves addressing issues close to their hearts. Voters are more likely to engage when they perceive a direct link between their vote and resolving problems affecting their community.
Here is the four step process our team uses for developing authentic, motivating messaging for local elections:
Understand which issues are important to your audience.
Select some state, local, or federal offices that have an impact on those issues.
Utilize storytelling techniques, such as personal narratives from community members, to humanize the connection between the issues and the local offices.
Highlight the larger effect that each vote has in the local elections.
For instance, during May of 2020, people in Atlanta (and across the country) rallied for criminal justice reforms. We worked with local organizers and activists to highlight how offices that would appear on voters’ ballots, including the District Attorney, County Sheriff, and Superior Court Judge, directly impacted these sorts of criminal justice reforms. We then highlighted numerically that your vote in these local offices was nearly 300 times as impactful (comparing the county turnout to the national turnout).
Through this approach, we were able to directly engage over 17,000 Atlanta voters in a primary election with no presidential election at the top of the ballot.
A more recent example would be discussing how locally elected school board officials help determine annual budgets, implement policies, and appoint a superintendent.
Using Technology for Tailored Education
While the digital landscape has become a cornerstone of civic engagement efforts, organizations face a common hurdle in educating voters about local elections: the diversity and scale of state and local ballots. Crafting relevant content for a broad and varied audience becomes a formidable challenge when looking at local elections.
This is where innovative tech platforms like Ballot Builder come into play.
Screenshot of Ballot Builder
Ballot Builder allows organizations to create branded, nonpartisan voter guides with almost no work.
By tailoring information to match each voter's unique ballot, organizations using Ballot Builder overcome the content creation challenge and enhance the relevance and impact of their messaging. The streamlined process not only saves time but also ensures that the content resonates with each voter.
As an added benefits, organizations that integrate this sort of personalized approach into their voter outreach typically experience better engagement and collect more email addresses from voters.
To date, Ballot Builder has helped over 60,000 voters get informed about their state and local elections, helping to rebuild a crucial sense of voter empowerment. Organizations including the New Georgia Project, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and the Georgia Conservation Voters, have used Ballot Builder as a central part of their voter outreach strategies.
“One of the number one things that we hear from people is that is that they don't know what is on their ballot – what positions are on their ballot, what the positions do, and they don't know the candidates. It’s a major reason why people don’t go vote,” said Brionté McCorkle, Executive Director of Georgia Conservation Voters.
Conclusion
As the specter of uninspiring presidential candidates looms, civic engagement organizations are at a pivotal juncture.
To overcome voter apathy, we must focus on voter psychology, emphasize local elections, hone in on local issues, and embrace innovative tech. Together, let's empower communities and make every vote count in local governance.
In doing so, we not only redefine the narrative surrounding civic participation but also cultivate a more robust and engaged electorate for the thousands of primary, local, and special elections that will occur before 2028.
If you’re interested in exploring how to integrate Ballot Builder into your voter contact initiatives in 2024, reach out to us at hello@branch.vote.