In political science, political apathy is a feeling of disinterest or apathy towards politics. It can consist of interest apathy, voter apathy, and information apathy. It can be categorized as the indifference of an individual and a lack of interest in participating in political activities. This includes lack of interest in elections, political events, public meetings, and voting. Political apathy can lead to low voter turnout and stagnation in a states government. Political apathy can lead to a loss of democracy and respondents mentioned it can also have social and psychological damage due to lack of personal political interaction. According to North American Review, lack of participation can lead to "political ills" such as corruption and dishonesty among politicians as they are not held accountable. Countries with mandatory voting have seen less occurrences of political and voter apathy. In Belgium, political participation is at 87.2%, while in Turkey, it is 84.3%. Political apathy is often found among younger voters, the poor, and minority groups. The Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economybreaks down youths into different groups, Broadly Engaged, Political Specialists and Only Voted, with the rest clustered into Civically Alienated, Politically Marginalized and Engaged Non-Voters. In 2010, only 21% of youths eligible to vote in the United States between ages 18–21 voted or were politicallyactive.
In the 2012 presidential election in the U.S., turnout was 54.87% and in the midterm elections of 2014 there was a historic low of 36.7% turnout to the elections. In a study conducted by YouGov, the question "Suppose that you alone could determine whether a Democrat or a Republican represents your Congressional district by paying a specific dollar amount. How much would you be willing to pay to ensure that a Congressman from your preferred party will win the office?" was as asked to multiple American. 55% of the people answered that they would contribute nothing to help their district. This study concluded that some Americans are not interested enough in politics to put hypothetical money to a candidate. Based on government data, in the last 60 years eligible voters that have cast a ballot has ranged from 49 to 63%. The highest turnout occurred in the 1960 election in which President John F. Kennedy was elected, while the lowest turnout occurred in 1996 with the election for President Bill Clinton. In a Google study on "Interested Bystanders," experts discovered that 48.9% of people in America are paying attention to the political world but not voicing any opinion on the matter, thus increasing political, and voter apathy in America.
