Government and politics concepts · AP U.S. Government and Politics, AP U.S. History
Political efficacy
Political efficacy: A citizen's belief that they can understand and influence government and that government will respond.
By the CollegePrepRoom editorial team · Updated · How we write and check these pages
What it means
Internal efficacy is confidence in one's own ability to participate effectively; external efficacy is the belief that government will respond to citizens. People with higher efficacy are more likely to vote and participate in other ways.
Low trust in government and low efficacy are often linked to lower turnout.
Example
A young voter who believes 'my vote doesn't matter' has low external efficacy and may be less likely to vote.
On the exam
Efficacy often appears in quantitative analysis questions about turnout and public trust.