April 24, 2005
LOW STAKES AT THE END OF HISTORY:
Politics is no longer Britain's cup of tea: Experts say voter turnout in the May 5 general election could plunge to a century-low 53 percent. (Mark Rice-Oxley, 4/25/05, f The Christian Science Monitor)
With less than two weeks to the May 5 vote, the big question facing British politicians is not who votes for them, but who votes at all. Experts predict the lowest participation in a century.Turnout that persisted above 70 percent for decades after World War II is expected to plunge to 53 percent this cycle, according to Professor Paul Whiteley of England's Essex University. Turnout in the 2004 US presidential vote was 61 percent.
Anatole Kaletsky nailed the surprising reason why this is a good rather than a bad sign. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 24, 2005 6:41 PM
Also, low voter turnout can mean that only those who care about the issues of the day turn out, and those who care are often, (but not always), better informed.
The downside to low voter turnout is that the fringe fanatics ALWAYS turn out, and that leads to the kind of voting that we see in Presidential primaries and within the Cali GOP.
Posted by: Rip Van Winkle at April 24, 2005 10:52 PM