Having a real voice in political parties, rather than the convenience of party involvement, is the most likely factor to drive greater participation in political parties, but reformers face an uphill battle. Most people believe there are better uses of their time than becoming politically active.

As reformers within the Liberal and Labor parties contemplate declining, ageing memberships and the need to revitalise internal processes and grassroots participation, Essential Research asked voters about their reaction to a series of statements about reasons for joining political parties.

While voters supported the idea that “it is important for democracy that as many citizens as possible participate actively in the political process”, 68% to 18%, there was less enthusiasm for the principle of participating via party involvement — agreement for “it’s important for democracy that people join political parties” was significantly lower at 46% to 38%.

Voters showed little appetite for joining parties even if they were overhauled, but their responses suggest it’s not the convenience or ease of participation that’s discouraging membership, but the sense of futility. Only 26% of voters said they’d join a party if participation was made “easier and less time-consuming”, with 57% saying they wouldn’t. Only 31% said they’d join a party if they were able to participate online. The condition that elicited most support for participation was “I would join a political party if I had a real voice in what was decided”, which attracted 46% agreement, compared to 38% disagreement. There was 62% agreement with the suggestion “joining a political party is a waste of time — the party machines control everything”.

In the context of current levels of party membership of course, even 2.6%, let alone 26%, of voters deciding to join political parties would see a massive increase in membership.

However, voters regard political parties as less effective than other forms of voluntary work. “There are other voluntary organisations that deserve my time more than political parties” drew 80% support; “I can be more help to society working for a charity or non-government organisations than joining a political party” drew 75% agreement.

Responses to that question created an interesting divide along gender lines. Women were far more likely to strongly agree that charities or NGOs were a better use of their time than political parties — 35% of women strongly agreed with that, compared to 25% of men. Women also more strongly agreed that other voluntary organisation deserved their time more than political parties.

That aspect of the response is important because a range of data suggests women persistently volunteer at higher rates than men — usually 3%-4% more women volunteer than men (that is separate from carers’ work, in which women are also overrepresented). To reduce the issue to one of economics, political parties are competing against volunteer-based charities, religious groups, social services and NGOs for people’s time. They’re starting at a disadvantage in terms of the perceived social benefit they can deliver, and they’re less appealing to the more important volunteering demographic. It also doesn’t bode well for the parties’ need (particularly the Liberal Party’s) to increase the representation of women.

The other problem for the major parties is that it is Greens voters who are least hostile to the idea of joining a party. For example, 36% of Greens voters would join a party if participation was easier, compared to 27%-28% for Labor and Liberal voters (who are very similar in their attitudes toward political participation) … 59% of Greens voters would join a party if they had a real voice in what was decided against 47%-48% of Liberal and Labor voters; only 36% of Greens say they’d “never join a political party” compared to 53% and 49% of Labor and Liberal voters.

If reform of the major parties is going to work, they need not just to shift power to the grassroots, but to convince people, and especially women, that they can actually do something positive via politics.