European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 15, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Whose shared characteristics seem to Point to some reasons and perhaps even remedies Lor the rising tide of non voting. The poll Lound. A surprising 37 Percy no of non voters Are what we Call doers these arc americans with neighbourhood roots either they have joined a committee written to a Public Olli tial or to the local newspaper or attended 3 neighbourhood meeting or a political rally. What doers won t Lake time to do is vote in National elections. Another 22 Percy no Are whal we describe As spectators. Those Are people who veep up with current events by watching network news or Reading newspapers at least live limes a week. They have lived at test a year in their communities but they Don t gel involved in the same Way As doers. About 21 percent Are what we Call mobiles. These Are americans who moved to a new address within the past year and Haven t registered. Only 20 percent of non voters Are what we Call unconnected a. These americans Aren t joiners and Aren t regular National news watchers or newspaper readers. The names of those groups doors mobiles spectators and unconnected a wore coined Lor this article. They Are used Only As Means of trying to learn More about american voting habits. Together these blocks of non voters pose a gloomy question How Long can a democracy missing Hall of its members stay healthy some Long time students of voter turnout Are worried. The More the Public is disconnected irom the government the Mote you have people just bouncing around like individual atoms said political scientist Ruy Teixeira Curtis cans director of the committee for the study of the american electorate goes so tar As to warn Ihm declining Kir nout increases risks of demagoguery and authoritarianism " less pessimistic is Richard Scammon head of a presidential commission on voter turnout during the Kennedy administration. The Freedom no to vote is just As important As the Freedom to  said Scammon we Vole Lor a very Large number of Ollices because of the heritage of the Iron lick i sometimes wonder How the average citizen manages " one Laylor that makes the non voter phenomenon so perplexing is that the roughly 85 million non voters share so Many characteristics with Active voters these similarities emerged plainly in the Telephone Survey of 2.039 voters and 770 non voters which was supplemented by reporters interviews in Lour slates. Non voters do have political opinions the poll found. 13 the government spending too much on nuclear weapons fifty eight percent of voters and 64 percent of non voters said yes spending too Lille on health care yes said 73 percent of voters and 77 percent of non voters. If a non voters were miraculously transformed into voters neither the republicans nor the democrats would gain an Edge in the 1988 election. The poll determined that 36 percent of non voters preferred Michael Dukakis and 35 percent favored George Bush. The great inert mass of non voters remains somewhat poorer and less educated than the voting Public. Bui a great Sci econome chasm no longer divides voters and non motors the poll found thai 22 percent of non voters had incomes below $15,000, As against 15 percent of voters. The poll indicates that Lour life is of non voters Are Whites not Lar Iram 1he 85 percent of the general population who Are whiles this parallels . Census Bureau studies showing that since 1972 Black turnout has increased while while turnout has declined. Hispanic americans arc now the Only Large ethnic group whose turnout rate is sharply below the National average according to the us census Bureau. From a Quick demographic snapshot non voters almost seem to to merely Tho voters younger siblings. That As the poll discovered. Is a misleading impression because it conceals differences in background and motivation among identifiable groups of non voters. The doers Maroco Siler a 33-Yuar-old Mother of live in Dayton Ohio could Lep Rosenl the largest and most troubling group of non voters the doers. Like All the doors she is a political being. She has writ Len to her congressman because she does t like to see her son bused to a predominantly Black school. She has attended neighbourhood meetings and written a letter to a newspaper. She is convinced that a Distant elite she Calls the political people will decide who gels Eie cled no matter what she does. She voted once in 1960 but said in August she has Given it up Lor Ever. The poll found that 37 percent of All non voters Are doers projecting that percentage onto the 85 million americans who May no Vole this november produces this estimate about 31 million american non voters Are doers. Doers tend to be the most upscale of the non voters. Only one out of eight never finished High school. Four out of Len have Amity incomes above $35,000. They look a bit like demographic clones of voters except that doers Are slightly younger Ihan voters. Their most salient difference from voters is that doers Are More Likely to be politically alienated and ill informed. Of doers 44 percent believe thai people like me Don t have any say in what the government does compared to 37 Percy no of voters. Only 32 percent of doers said they follow government affairs most o the Lime compared to 56 percent of voters. The spectators about 18 million american non voters fall in the category of Spectator according to projections based on the poll. As a group spectators Are even More alienated than doors. They also Are less educated and nearly five times As Likely As doers to be Over 65 years old. Cici hawn 52, of for laude Dato Fla illustrates that Well informed people Don t always Vole. Every morning she reads a newspaper and every night she watches an hour of television news. She was so interested in the democratic convention that she watched every minute it was on television. I want somebody to inspire me but it does t happen. 1 used to be a lil lie bit embarrassed about not voting bul i am nol any More t believe in whal i believe and there is nothing to believe in the mobiles mobiles number roughly 18 million according to projections based on Tho poll. They show Quilo a Dilfer enl profile than do typical voters. Mobiles Are younger loss affluent less Likely to attend Church regularly and less Likely to have parents who voted. Even so. They Are the Leas Disaru Ellul of the Federal government and the least alienated of non voters. They More Ihan any other category of non voters sharply disagreed with Tho statement thai people like to Don t have any say about what the government  All this implies that mobiles and doers Are the Best candidates to How Back into the Pool of Calivo voters. Perhaps doers will need a powerful Issue a candidate even More galvanizing than Ronald Reagan possibly even a crisis such As an economic depression to bring them Back As voters. Even mobiles cannot be counted on to Register automatically. Tho pol Lound thai 44 percent of mobiles agreed thai i m generally bored Wilh what goes on in  with boredom compounding the Ordinary hassles of moving mobiles often find that trifling bureaucratic obstacles loom Largo enough to keep them from registering. In this respect mobiles Are like All non voters. The poll found lha at least one Oul of eight non registered voters claimed thai a major reason Lor their Lack of participation was thai they worked during the hours of Reg isral on or that they did l know How to Register or that Iho registration place was too Lar irom their Homes. In addition to minor obstacles the poll revealed thai a Small but tangible traction of the population fell that registering to Vole would subject them loan unacceptable Penally getting summoned to serve on a jury. They balk Al the typical local practice of selecting jury panels from lists of registered Volcks rather than from broader lists such As income tax  poll found thai 6 percent of non registered americans cited the Prospect of jury duly As a major reason they Are not registered. Another 13 percent called it a minor reason. Added together those groups would represent nearly Ono out of five non registered americans perhaps 10 million people. Example George Jandock 40, who moved 1o Boynton Beach Fla. Two years ago claimed that the reason he has t registered is Hal his former Boss at a Floral distribution company in Chicago once told him if you Don t want to gel called Lor jury duty and miss work Don t Register to  the unconnected the poll Lound thai Only 20 percent of non voters til the common stereotype Lor non voters people who Don l follow the news Don t join committees and Don t vote. The bloc of unconnected a number 17 million of the 85 million non voters according to projections based on Iho poll. Of All the groups of non voters the unconnected a rate themselves As the most bored with Washington events the least Likely to follow Public affairs and the most convinced that people like me Don t have any say in  More than half of unconnected a said their parents did not Vole most of the Lime Lynn Petty 20, of Cleveland is in some ways  of the group politically Union Nocles things Are going to happen Wholer i m voting or not she said. Married and Tho Molher of Ono child. Polly has an i in Grade education says she likes to watch soap operas and never talks Aboul  parents Walch the elections bul they don11 Vole she said. They just get upset about  scattered among the unconnected a the doers Tho spectators and Iho mobiles Are roughly b million people who Aren l eligible to vote because they Aren t cd Zens. Separating citizens from the local u a. Population is a Tricky problem. Oddly enough no government Agency keeps track of the numbers of citizens eligible to Vole even the census Bureau s commonly accepted estimates of 182 million now in the voting ago population includes Aboul 6 million Legal aliens and More Ihan 2 million undocumented aliens As Well As 680,000 persons ineligible to vote because they Are in prisons or mental hospitals.  i be decided y31w Only we Gurfes Wem saturday october 15, 19b8 the stars and stripes Page 17