Govt 220
Professor
Grose
5/30/05
Martin Van Buren through his reformation of his party helped to
solve the collective action problem in the context of voter mobilization. The
collective action problem for a candidate is how to get more people to go vote for
them rather than their opponent, and how to get workers and resources to get
information out. This problem is especially difficult when it comes to mobilizing
voters. As stated in Aldrich, since the probability the voter’s vote will count is
relatively zero, this gives the voter no reason to vote. Instead the person will free
ride off of the other people who have voted. Which means by not voting, people
can collect the benefits from the elected candidate just like the people who voted.
The second problem that is faced in mobilizing voters is the high cost of
information. Even if the probability to vote doesn’t matter for the voter, the cost to
find out who the candidates are may cause them not to vote.
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- Spring '05
- Grose
- Government, Democracy, Martin Van Buren, Voting system
-
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