Explain the concept of ‘differential abstention’ in US politics. (10 marks)

Differential abstention is the fact that societal groups are more or less likely to abstain in elections and this fact alone will affect the outcome of elections in the USA. Voting behaviour varies from election to election and each voter chooses to vote or abstain differently at every election. Different groups of voters based on part affiliations, race or wealth status can be more or less motivated to vote for a particular office or cause. This is called the “enthusiasm gap” as seen when a white old Republican group of voters turned out at the 2010 mid-term election. This could be because they felt influenced and encouraged to vote for Republican candidates as there was a Democratic president and a strong push to turn out to vote by the Tea Party movement. Although the turnout from this demographic was high, the overall turnout was 80 million compared to the 130 million in 2008, showing that voters will only…