The politically engaged are more polarized than the detached

This seems to cut against the idea that the key to a stable and rational governing system is to get people involved in the political process. The more engaged, the more polarized. The degree of polarization has increased far more among the engaged than the less engaged.

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I don't really know what to make of this.

Increased participation - according to these data - may make things worse.

From the Dallas Morning News: Texans not very engaged as citizens, nonpartisan study finds

An appropriate topic as we begin our summer classes. Is the Texas population fit to govern itself?

Texans are not highly engaged voters and citizens  — and, by some measures, not very active members of their communities, a nonpartisan study has found.

In 2010, the state ranked 51st among the states and the District of Columbia in voter turnout, 49th in the share of its citizens who contacted public officials, 47th in how many trust most of their neighbors and 43rd in the percentage who give to charities.

The study, released Monday, is the first-ever Texas Civic Health Index, a joint effort by the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the University of Texas at Austin and the National Conference on Citizenship, a congressionally chartered group that tries to evaluate civic participation.

Regina Lawrence, the UT journalism professor who runs the Strauss Institute, said the findings should alarm Texans. She noted that just 36 percent cast ballots in 2010.

“A good definition of democracy is not one in which two-thirds of voters don’t show up,” Lawrence said. “What we saw was a very active minority of citizens really determining the future of the state in that election.”

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