No Show ‘96: Americans Who Don’t Vote Is Political Discussion In Decline Or Just Changing Its Nature?

Is public discourse a dying art?

Perhaps, when a Medill News Service survey of likely nonvoters found that:

77 percent discuss politics and public affairs with family members once a week or less.

74 percent talk as infrequently with friends about similar matters.

25 percent “hardly ever” follow current events through reading a newspaper, watching television news or sharing information with others.

Voters are more inclined to follow news events, but a Times Mirror poll last October showed that one in five voters rarely follows what’s going on in government and public affairs.

Some view these numbers with alarm, as a sign that American democracy is in danger of implosion. Others contend the fast-paced society places many pressures on people and erodes the time necessary for discussion.

According to the Medill poll, only 6 percent of nonvoters said they discuss public affairs with family members “every day” while 7 percent discuss such matters daily with friends.

While 57 percent said they follow current events “most of the time” or “some of the time,” another 43 percent said they do so “only now and then” or “hardly at all.”

Nearly 9 of 10 who said they didn’t follow current events also told pollsters they didn’t engage in political conversation.

Experts contend public dialogue is deteriorating in part because of television.

“(TV) brings the world’s community into your living room, but it brings you into your living room,” said Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.

“If (people) watch television, as TV Guide says, seven hours a day … and work eight hours a day and sleep eight hours a day and commute and eat an hour and a half a day,” he added, “that adds up to 24 and a half, which doesn’t give you much time for reading, discussion, participating or even engagement with your children.”

But television can’t account entirely for the decline in issues discussions. Some nonvoters surveyed, like Mary Beth Harris, said television stimulates rather than stymies debate.

“We talk about some of the things (politicians) do, mostly when we hear things on television news,” said Harris, 35, of Williamston, N.C.

Harris is concerned about welfare reform and immigration. She reads a newspaper sporadically, so television provides her the latest information.

Gail Nardi, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Democratic Party, disagreed that people are less attuned to public affairs. Times have changed, she said. Being involved often doesn’t mean sitting around a table to chat about politics.

“There is no less concern in our society now than there was in the past. The issues are different,” she said. “Just try to build a road through a wilderness area. Just try to pollute a river a family has loved and lived on for a generation. Then you’ll find out how much a person cares.”