An empowered and engaged citizenry makes for a healthy democracy. Perceptions of one’s political power can influence the stability of society overall. Electing diverse representatives who can speak to issues impacted by race, gender, disability status, or sexual orientation can increase engagement levels of these disadvantaged populations. When an individual feels like he/she can influence government decisions, they are more likely to cooperate with those decisions. Voting has historically been the method by which members of minority groups affect change. Therefore, accessibility issues loom large when discussing equality of opportunity.

To understand Political Power as a function of inequality we used four indicators:

• Race & Representation in Government
• Disability & Voting Access
• Gender & Representation in Government
• Education & Political Empowerment

Look at the chart to your right for an overall picture of this topic, and then go to each indicator and the scores in context for more detail and additional findings.