Life beyond the ballot box: the political participation and non-participation of electoral abstainers

Abstract

Drawing on electoral participation and social movement studies, we develop a typology of abstainers on the basis of their forms of non-electoral participation, and explore the determinants that drive belonging to each of these sub-groups. Although there is a positive correlation between electoral turnout and non-electoral participation, through applying latent class analyses and regressions we find that there is a subset of abstainers who decide not to cast a vote but take part in non-electoral political activities. These ‘alternative voicers" are critical of the institutional system and do not feel represented by it, but they are politically involved. Based on their patterns of non-electoral participation, we propose a more nuanced typology of alternative voicers (e-activists, super-activists, and consumerists) and explore their drivers relative to other abstainers. We use data from the original LIVEWHAT survey conducted in 2015 across nine European countries.