Too often, discussions of participation end with the act of voting, but campaigns themselves involve the citizenry in other and richer ways. Involvement in the campaign is a more demanding activity than pulling a lever or filling out a ballot paper, and more directly involves citizens in the deliberative process of democracy. In its postelection survey, the CSES asked respondents about their participation in two different types of campaign activity:

Which, if any, did you do during the most recent election…? 

...talk to other people to persuade them to vote for a particular party or candidate?

…show your support for a particular party or candidate by, for example, attending a meeting, putting up a poster, or in some other way?

Despite the imagery generated by low turnout levels in the U.S. elections, participation in campaigns was more common among American respondents than those in any of the other twenty-three nations included in the CSES project (Figure 1). Forty-four percent of Americans said they tried to persuade others how to vote in 2004, and 30 percent said they demonstrated their party support in some active way.

Admittedly, other data from the American National Election Study indicate that the highly polarized and highly partisan nature of the election stimulated U.S. campaign activity slightly in 2004. But other nations in this set saw equally or more dramatic elections: the 2002 Spanish elections following the Madrid terrorist attacks; the 2002 contest in France between Chirac and LePen; the Lula election in Brazil. Activity in American campaigns reflects not the drama of a particular election, but rather the broad, grassroots, participatory nature of American elections in general. The host of candidates who run in local, state, and national elections assemble their own armies of volunteers, instead of relying on a cadre of formal party members, as in most parliamentary systems. In 2000, with its lower turnout, 34 percent of Americans said they tried to persuade others how to vote, which would still rank the United States second in this crossnational set. Even in Australia and Belgium, where voting is compulsory, fewer citizens are actively engaged in the campaign.

Time series from the American National Election Studies and other national election study series generally show a downward trend in campaign activity over the past several decades. This reflects a pattern of partisan dealignment in contemporary democracies that is decreasing electoral participation. But even with this dealignment trend, Americans are more engaged in elections than most other democratic electorates.