Political Efficacy ("say in government" through elections)

Anchoring Vignettes for Political Efficacy

Question:

How much say [does/do] [name of person/you] have in getting the government to address issues that interest [him/her/you]?

Response categories:

  1. Unlimited Say
  2. A Lot of Say
  3. Some Say
  4. Little Say
  5. No Say at All
Vignettes:
  1. [Alison] lacks clean drinking water. She and her neighbors are supporting an opposition candidate in the forthcoming elections that has promised to address the issue. It appears that so many people in her area feel the same way that the opposition candidate will defeat the incumbent representative.
  2. [Imelda] lacks clean drinking water. She and her neighbors are drawing attention to the issue by collecting signatures on a petition. They plan to present the petition to each of the political parties before the upcoming election.
  3. [Toshiro] lacks clean drinking water. There is a group of local leaders who could do something about the problem, but they have said that industrial development is the most important policy right now instead of clean water.
  4. [Jane] lacks clean drinking water because the government is pursuing an industrial development plan. In the campaign for an upcoming election, an opposition party has promised to address the issue, but she feels it would be futile to vote for the opposition since the government is certain to win.
  5. [Moses] lacks clean drinking water. He would like to change this, but he can't vote, and feels that no one in the government cares about this issue. So he suffers in silence, hoping something will be done in the future.