To get out the vote, target children
Kids who learn social skills are more likely to vote when they come of age, a political scientist says
Almost one in two of the voting-age population failed to cast their ballot in last November’s presidential elections, putting the United States far behind almost all other developed democracies in voter turnout.
In Canada, for instance, 68.3 per cent of those eligible voted in the 2015 election.
Many proposals have been offered to tackle America’s problem: Hold elections on weekends. Make Election Day a national holiday. Get rid of voter ID laws. Roll out automatic voter registration.
Now, a political scientist is offering another solution: Teach kids social skills.
That’s the finding from a recently published study by John Holbein, an assistant professor at Brigham Young University.
In his research, Holbein set out to answer two broad questions. First, given that most get-outthe-vote initiatives targeting adults have relatively small effects, would reorienting efforts toward childhood be effective? And second, are social skills important in determining voter participation?
These are important questions, Holbein said in an interview, because “voting is a foundational act of democracy.”
Using 20 years’ worth of data from an intervention program called Fast Track, which was designed to help at-risk children develop social skills with the aim of improving their future general wellbeing, Holbein was able to find a causal connection between children who developed certain social skills early on and a greater likelihood of voting later on in life.
The Fast Track program, which started in 1992, targeted 891 kids. Half were placed in the control group, and half were placed in the treatment group. Those in the treatment group received special training on social skills, including skills for emotional understanding and communication, friendship, self-control and social problem-solving.
Matching data from Fast Track participants to state voter files, Holbein found that children who received social skills training were noticeably more likely to vote. Those who were assigned to the Fast Track program in childhood voted at a rate 6.6 per cent higher than those in the control group. When factors such as race, gender, age and socioeconomic status were taken into account, the difference in voter turnout rose to 7.3 per cent above the control group.
There are several reasons why social skills may increase political participation, according to Holbein.
First, the ability to empathize with others and recognize social problems can increase an individual’s motivation to participate in politics.
Second, because voting comes with various hurdles — registering to vote, scheduling time to locate and travel to vote, and learning about candidates and issues, for example — individuals who have selfcontrol, grit and emotion regulation would be better positioned to follow through on their intentions to vote.
And third, having social skills may make it less likely for individuals to face negative and demobilizing life events that make them ineligible or unable to vote.