I don't claim to have the answers, but I think that the dumbing down of politics and political arguments over the past 20 years or so is a central contributing factor to reduced voter participation (the word "turnout," it seems to me, has the effect of de-personalizing the decision, or removing responsibility from individual citizens.)
It seems clear to me that political parties aren't connecting with citizens who have no partisan affiliation. In terms of identifying and moblizing their respective bases of support, the NDP and BC Liberals obviously both do a decent job, hence the near-identical results of 2009 and 2005. Instead of inspiring new voters to participate in our democracy, both main parties preach to the choir, hardening pre-existing support for the most part by demonizing their opponent. Anyone who's ever worked on a political campaign at a senior level can tell you that negative ads work; that is, they can motivate voters to make a decision based on what they don't like. But I've become convinced--not that I have any empirical data to back me up--that campaigns that focus too heavily on a negative message freeze out voters who aren't already predisposed to one side or the other.
But let's take a quick look at the last campaign. In the midst of a worldwide recession/economic crisis, at a time when according to all the pundits the economy is the number one issue for voters, how much actual talk did we hear from either party about the subject that wasn't broadsides or platitudes? Or worse, pandering?
All the Liberals had to say on the economy was that Carole James has no experience (neither did Gordon Campbell before he ran up the biggest deficits in the history of BC) and the Liberals will "keep BC strong" (whatever that means.) Details? Don't worry voters, trust us, because you can't trust them.
The NDP's economic message, on the other hand, was that Gordon Campbell is a very bad man. Don't get me wrong, I think the Campbell government has been one of the worst in BC history. They've been extremely fortunate to govern during a time of unprecedented worldwide affluence and economic growth, but they haven't had the foresight to position BC to weather the inevitable downturn. That said, I wanted to hear a lot more detail about the NDP's plan to manage BC's finances.
So why don't we get the details before we have to make our voting decisions? Well, partly because the media looks forward to elections more for the increase in potential "gotcha" moments than for opportunities to provide informed debate. And, in a bit of grim symbiosis, it's because political strategists, like me, advise our clients to avoid details during campaigns so they don't inadvertently become a "gotcha" moment.
It's time for a new way of campaigning, and the only way it can work is for political parties to come to the realization that the old ways don't work any more. The continued reduction in the participation of eligible voters is unacceptable, and has to be considered a colossal, collective failure on the part of political parties, including their leaders and strategists, and the mainstream media in BC.
In other parts of the world, people literally risk death to get to the polls and mark their ballot. What's our excuse?
