Voter registration and political knowledge among American Indians

Abstract

This research utilizes a valuable data source to explain voter registration and political knowledge by Native Americans, testing theories of the political engagement of minority populations. After taking account of socio-economic resources, American Indians exhibit lower rates of voter registration and political knowledge compared to Caucasians but similar to that of Hispanics. Relative to other racial groups, military service greatly enhances American Indian political knowledge and voter registration. This finding is especially noteworthy given American Indians' high rate of military service.

Introduction to the special issue on indigenous politics

“…Other articles raise similar issues about legacies of settler colonialism, its tremendous impact on Indigenous politics (Barreto et al ., 2022; Beauvais, 2022; Foxworth and Boulding, 2022), Indigenous political participation and political knowledge (Koch, 2022) and efforts of Indigenous groups to exert power within existing political structures (Carlson, 2022). For Foxworth and Boulding (2022), survivance stands front and center as competing stereotypical images of Native people as either savage or spiritual, reinforce settler-colonial images and beliefs about Indigenous populations.…”

“…Koch (2022) explores how Native Americans perceive their relationship with the state by focusing on individual-level factors that influence voter registration rates and levels of political knowledge among Native Americans. His work highlights how Native encounters with the state influence Native participation in mainstream U.S. elections.…”

“…As several scholars note in this issue, Indigenous groups navigate settler-colonial governments in Japan (Komai, 2022), Canada (Beauvais, 2022), and in the United States at both the federal level (Carlson, 2022) and in individual states, including ND (Barreto et al ., 2022), and HI (Phan and Lee, 2022), with a status unlike that of racial or ethnic minorities. Some researchers use comparison to groups that are also non-majoritarian but not Indigenous, to highlight the political relationships of out groups (Carlson, 2022; Foxworth and Boulding 2022; Koch, 2022; Barreto et al , 2022). Ultimately both approaches highlight the effectiveness of survivance and encounters for understanding Indigenous politics.…”

“…Their work emphasizes the dynamic nature of Indigenous encounters and the need to understand Indigenous politics as an ongoing, evolving process that acts and reacts to the efforts of non-Indigenous actors (Cobb, 2007). Koch (2022) explores how Native Americans perceive their relationship with the state by focusing on individual-level factors that influence voter registration rates and levels of political knowledge among Native Americans. His work highlights how Native encounters with the state influence Native participation in mainstream U.S. elections.…”