ABSTRACT
Political interest is a vital aspect of political engagement. Because of its importance political interest has been among the most important themes in the voter behaviour literature. Dalton and Klingemann (2007, 4) write that ‘One of the enduring debates of political behaviour research involves basic questions about the public’s political abilities—the public’s level of knowledge, understanding, and interest in political matters.’ Beginning with the early political culture literature (Almond and Verba, 1963) political interest and attention to public affairs was seen to be an integral part of a successful and healthy political culture (Jackman, 1987, 417). However, publics across the advanced democracies have generally been depicted as uninterested in politics. Erikson et al. (2002, 78) summarize this situation well when they write that ‘Five decades of research on political behaviour have painted a portrait of voters who know next to nothing and prefer to think about issues other than politics.’ Outside of the academy the public’s perceived lack of interest in politics has also caught the attention of elites such as Paul Martin (then Minister of Finance in Canada) who expressed concern about low levels of political interest in 2002 (Tanguay, 2009, 221).
