Joshua J. Dyck - Initiatives without Engagement: A Realistic Appraisal of Direct Democracy’s Secondary Effects

Arguments about whether the American ballot initiative process promotes civic engagement date back to the Progressive Era, when processes allowing citizens to directly decide policy questions were established in about half of the states. The past few decades have witnessed an explosion of empirical research on direct democracy. Scholars have considered whether the very presence of ballot propositions or the extent of their use might change the way citizens engage with government.

When political scientists began to systematically examine whether the state ballot initiative process had spillover consequences, they tended to find that it had a positive impact on civic engagement. Recent scholarship casts doubt on some of their conclusions, determining that the ballot initiative process did not make people feel more inclined to believe they could influence the political process, trust the government, or be more knowledgeable about politics in general. However, in at least some circumstances, it got them to show up at the polls and increased the number of interest groups participating in the political arena. In Initiatives without Engagement, Dyck and Lascher develop and test a theory that can explain both the evidence that the ballot initiative process fails to provide the civic benefits commonly claimed for it and the evidence that it increases political participation. This theory argues that the basic function of direct democracy is to create more conflict in society.

Joshua J. Dyck is associate professor of political science and codirector of the Center for Public Opinion at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Edward L. Lascher Jr. is professor of public policy and administration at California State University, Sacramento.

Joshua J. Dyck

Edward L. Lascher Jr.

University of Michigan Press

Ann Arbor

Page iv Copyright 2019 by Joshua J. Dyck and Edward L. Lascher Jr.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dyck, Joshua J., author. | Lascher, Edward L., author.

Title: Initiatives without engagement : a realistic appraisal of direct democracys secondary effects / Joshua J. Dyck, Edward L. Lascher Jr.

Description: Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2018052427 (print) | LCCN 2019002182 (ebook) | ISBN 9780472124657 (E-book) | ISBN 9780472131198 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Referendum--United States--States. | Direct democracyUnited StatesStates. | Political participationUnited StatesStates. | Voting researchUnited StatesStates.

Classification: LCC JF494 (ebook) | LCC JF494 .D93 2019 (print) | DDC 328.273dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052427

Page v For my parents, Dennis and Susan, thank you for your love, for your support, for everything

For Liz, Alex, and Avery, with love, now and always

Digital materials related to this file can be found on the Fulcrum platform via the following citable URL: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9993024

Vanishingly few statewide candidate races generate the kind of attention, from either pundits or political scientists, earned by Proposition 187, a ballot initiative on the 1994 California general election ballot. Aimed at restricting services to illegal aliens, that measure, which passed with 59 percent of the vote, prompted numerous studies. Our quick Google Scholar search for the term Proposition 187 generated nearly twelve thousand results, with the top several articles claiming more than two hundred citations each. Scholars focus especially on the electoral impact of the ballot measure and on the extent to which it mobilized Californias large, rapidly growing nonwhite population. A lively debate has arisen about the extent to which the measure contributed to Californias move toward becoming a predominantly Democratic state, with most scholars (though not all) concluding that it did (Bowler, Nicholson, and Segura 2006; Dyck, Johnson, and Wasson 2012; Korey and Lascher 2006; but see Hui and Sears 2017). Even the titles of related academic articles (e.g., Earthquakes and Aftershocks: Race, Direct Democracy, and Partisan Change) underscore the perceived importance of the initiative measure.

Virtually all studies of Proposition 187 focus on its political impact; its policy impact was predictably minor. The constitutionality of the initiative was widely questioned during the campaign, since it conflicted with federal law, state laws, and prior US Supreme Court decisions (see Martis 1994). After passage, opponents immediately challenged the measure in court. Within days, a judge had enjoined most of its provisions from taking effect. A 1997 US District Court ruling determined that Proposition 187 Page x constituted an unconstitutional infringement on the federal governments jurisdiction over immigration issues; an appeal was filed but subsequently dropped, and the California legislature eventually removed the unenforceable traces of the measure from state codes.

There is little reason to think that Proposition 187 encouraged Californians to feel better about their own or fellow citizens democratic capabilities or impact on government or to put more faith in government institutions. While scholars have paid less attention to the views of measure advocates about subsequent court rulings, we can only guess that yes voters were frustrated by court actions effectively striking down the measure they supported. Meanwhile, much evidence suggests that Latinos and other minorities felt attacked by the ballot initiative. Studies indicate that Proposition 187 encouraged greater voter registration and turnout among California Latinos (Pantoja, Ramirez, and Segura 2001). However, that situation could well have been the result of a defensive posture toward protecting rights and benefits or of mobilization by activists, rather than an indication of feelings of empowerment. There is also much evidence suggesting that measures such as Proposition 187 may encourage latent animus among majority groups toward minority groups (Donovan and Tolbert 2013), which would tend to erode feelings about the democratic capabilities of fellow citizens.

The preceding brief review of Proposition 187 and its aftermath illustrates several of the themes we stress in this book. Statewide ballot initiatives in the United States can have a significant impact on citizens participation in politics. This may be true even if the agenda-setting process for initiative measures is largely divorced from the concerns of ordinary citizens and even if the policy change such citizens witness is little because the large majority of ballot measures lose and because courts invalidate many of those that pass. The political impact can include getting people to the polls who would not otherwise vote. However, such turnout is not necessarily accompanied by any increase in individual-level feelings of efficacy or the like. Indeed, measures such as Proposition 187 may make people more upset with politics, fellow citizens, and their government after an initiative campaign. Rather, the gains in voting may reflect mobilization efforts and bringing new groups into the political struggle. In short, our appraisal in the present study is darker than the one that commonly prevails in the literature about the secondary impact of ballot initiatives. We believe ours is also more realistic.