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Democratic Action Research (DARE) and Large Scale Simulations: Teaching Political
Literacy and Civic Engagement at Pace University’s Presidential Convention 2004:
By Dr. Gregory Julian and Dr. Christopher Malone
Department of Political Science, Pace University
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The last vote has been counted in the 2004 presidential election and old debates are already beginning
anew about the causes of low turnout of those between the ages of 18 and 24. Despite an unprecedented
amount of time and effort spent on turning out the youth vote, the early data suggests that about half of
the eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 24 cast a vote for president. The good news is that, indeed,
this year’s figures reverse a downward trend in voter turnout amongst the youth; the bad news is that
these figures still lagged behind the average of other age groups. Scholars will now once again cite
evidence of political apathy and alienation among young people; they will refer to studies that reveal
widespread ignorance of American politics and history in our nation’s high schools and colleges. Dire
predictions will no doubt follow about the bleak future of American democracy due to the ostensible lack
of knowledge and interest in the American political system among our newest voters.
The concern about young voter’s apathy is well founded for some very good reasons. Many posit voting
as the essential responsibility of citizenship in a democracy. As such, voting is a necessity and good in
and of itself – a measure of one’s commitment to civic duty. Yet, while voter turnout is an important
indicator of both individual commitment to, and collective health of any democratic society, there is more
to consider: studies have shown a strong correlation between low political participation, high literacy
inequality, and the unequal distribution of material resources (Milner 2002). Societies which have high
levels of voter turnout and a relatively equal distribution of intellectual resources will, over time, tend to
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Convention