Wake Me Up On November 5?: Election Fatigue

Conventional wisdom dictates that longer campaigns, combined with incessant media coverage, leads to a phenomenon known as voter fatigue or election fatigue, where the electorate gets so tired of the campaign that they lose interest and stop participating. But does frustration with election overload actually cause less investment in the proceedings or lower turnout at the polls? And is overexposure the only reason for voter fatigue, or are deeper issues – like skepticism and deep-seeded mistrust of politics – also at play?

Voter Fatigue? Maybe not so much...

ONE MILLION STRONG - Citing an ABC poll taken shortly before the March 4 primary, Psericks notes that a majority of Democrats wanted both of their candidates to stay in the race regardless of which states they won that day. Psericks takes this as an indication that, contrary to the assumption that Democratic voters are worn out and disinterested by the drawn-out battle for the nomination, they are actually to some degree engaged in the race and want to see both Obama and Clinton stick around a little while longer....

Bored to Jeers

DON T. FORSE, JR. - In this post, written at the beginning of primary season, Don T. Forse, Jr. argues that the early start of the election lead to popular indifference. He doesn’t necessarily believe this will lead to increased voter fatigue, since electoral fatigue is already so deeply ingrained in the American psyche. Citing polls that indicate the country is unconcerned with and irritated by the election and the surrounding hoopla, Forse also quotes statistics suggesting that Americans find presidential debates particularly inconsequential and are in favor of shortening the election cycle....

Local View: Referedum Fatigue

CONSERVATIVE FUTURE - In this interesting post, Andy Dunbar describes an unusual case of “referendum fatigue” in Birmingham, England, where a local paper has been voraciously campaigning to put a measure on the ballot, in spite of a failure to obtain the requisite number of signatures on a petition and a general disinterest on the part of the local population. Dunbar’s post shows that there’s more than more than one way for the media to tire out voters, and also serves as a reminder that election fatigue is not a uniquely American phenomenon....

3.13.08

09:13 PM -

Germany...

robertnyc - Not sure but I think that I heard that in Germany there is actually a limit to the mount of time you can campaign. Don't quote me on this but I think they have some sort of regulations on it (money, time etc...)

04:05 PM -

Anonymous - It's the constant bombardment that gets me. And whether the news is huge or trivial, it still seems to be presented with seat-edge inducing urgency.... I'm tired of it, i'll tell you that much

02:37 PM -

My feelings exactly.

jb - Yup. I'm absolutely sick of the elections and we still have a while to go. Why waste all this time and money? Let's limit the race to 2 months. Now that's what I'm talking about!

01:11 PM -

6 more week they say...

Anonymous - Hopefully something other than "the democratic nomination is still up for grabs" come out of people's mouths after Pennsylvania.
We need to start talking about the real issues.

12:44 PM -

On the edge of my seat

Anonymous - It's just so exciting, each of these twists and turns. Every moment a new revelation - a new must-know fact or turn of events in the Clinton-Obama race - propped up as the greatest breaking news of the election. I mean, of course we can run a marathon at full speed for two years. What are you, ADD?

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