Democracy Requires Attention: Voter Fatigue among People with ADHD

• In Event: Poster Session: Electoral Behavior

Abstract

A well-informed electorate and equal access to the ballot are two of the cornerstones of democracy. That is why most nations enact laws and programs in place to ensure that groups, from the visually impaired and deaf to hospital patients and wheelchair users, have access to the news and to the ballot. This begs the question, what about people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?
While this condition affects about 7% of the public and is recognized by many countries as a disability, no study to date has explored its relation to political engagement and participation. It is reasonable to assume that these might be influenced by biomedical and especially by neuro-psychiatric factors, which affect the way by which individuals perceive and react to information, messages, or decision making. These individuals, who tend to struggle with prolonged tasks, may find it difficult to continuously participate in political activities throughout periods of ongoing political turmoil and uncertainty.
Ample research has shown that as demands from the public increase, such as in a snap, repeat, runoff, or down the ballot elections, we witness voters’ fatigue, a decline in engagement and participation. Based on their medical condition, we hypothesize that in such elections, the interest and participation of ADHD individuals will be lower than the general public.
We conducted a panel study (7 waves, initial N = 1303) among Jewish voters prior to and following Israel’s 2019 April and September elections. Respondents completed the ADHD ASRS screener, and 14.6% of them were found likely or very likely to have ADHD. Across the two elections, respondents were asked to report their radio and TV news exposure and social media usage, particularly political media usage, such as following politicians or political parties on social media, receiving, reading, sharing, and responding to political content. They were also asked to report on their political participation: if they contacted political officials, attempted to influence others’ voting choices, volunteered at an election campaign, attended rallies, and signed petitions.
Consistent with prior work, Israeli voters reduced their political participation from the first election to the second election. Importantly, preliminary analysis suggests that this effect was more pronounced for respondents who suffer from ADHD than for respondents who did not report symptoms of this disorder. That is, while the ongoing political turmoil in Israel generally reduced political participation, its impact was stronger for voters with ADHD. Furthermore, whereas at the first election respondents with ADHD reported higher political participation than those without ADHD, this difference attenuated by the time of the second election. When it comes to media exposure and usage, the frequent elections also had differential implications for people with and without ADHD: consumption of news and political-related content on social media generally decreased, but this trend was stronger for respondents with ADHD.
This study finds for the first time that individuals with ADHD are more likely to suffer from voter fatigue. These results should cause some concern among all who believe that our elected institutions should reflect the preferences of society's neurodiversity. Given that ADHD is correlated with educational underachievement, unemployment, addictive behaviors, and other psychological comorbidities, such as anxiety and depression, it is imperative that their voices are heard across all types of elections.

Authors

• Israel Waismel-Manor, University of Haifa

• Yael Rivka` Kaplan, Hebrew University

• Gal Ifergane, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev