Political efficacy

A long-established measure from political science of how a person relates to politics, across two independent dimensions. Internal efficacy is your confidence that you can understand political matters and take part effectively; external efficacy is your sense that government and the political system actually respond to people like you. The two vary independently — you can feel capable yet unheard, or heard yet unsure — and both ends are described even-handedly, with neither better nor worse.

Political efficacy is one of the most-studied attitudes in political science, introduced in Campbell, Gurin and Miller's The Voter Decides (1954) and later separated into two validated dimensions — internal efficacy (belief in your own political competence) and external efficacy (belief that the system is responsive) — by Craig, Niemi and Silver (1990) and Niemi, Craig and Mattei (1991). Their survey items are carried in national election studies worldwide. You can lean high or low on each dimension independently. (Political efficacy (internal & external))

Dimensions

• Internal efficacy (Politics feels beyond me – I can take part) — Leaning high means you feel confident that you can understand political issues and take part effectively — that you have what it takes to follow politics and make your voice count; leaning low means political matters often feel too complicated or remote for you to engage with confidently.
• External efficacy (The system won't listen – The system responds) — Leaning high means you believe that government and officials are responsive to people like you, and that ordinary views genuinely shape what those in power do; leaning low means you feel that decision-makers pay little heed to people like you, however much they take part.

References

• Niemi, R. G., Craig, S. C., & Mattei, F. (1991). Measuring internal political efficacy in the 1988 National Election Study. American Political Science Review
• Craig, S. C., Niemi, R. G., & Silver, G. E. (1990). Political efficacy and trust: A report on the NES pilot study items. Political Behavior
• Campbell, A., Gurin, G., & Miller, W. E. (1954). The Voter Decides. Row, Peterson

Related topics

• Political orientation
• Political compass
• Left or right
• Preferred form of government
• Political ideology
• Civic engagement

All topics on ArtaQuest