If you find yourself yawning at these prospects — or wincing — you may be described in a new book, “Non-Voters:America’s No-Shows,” written by Jack Doppelt and Ellen Shearer, professors at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Looking at the United States’ declining voter participation —the 1996 presidential election drew 8 million fewer voters than the one in 1992 —the authors have come up with six categories of no-shows. Here’s a rundown of them, as described in a recent edition of The Washington Spectator:

• Doers:They tend to be well-educated, and financially secure, interested in the news and civic activities. But they are not that interested in politics.
  
• Unpluggeds:Mostly under 45, they have less education and don’t interact with their communities. They feel that politicians do not tend to them, so they return the favor.
  
• Irritables:These people have given up on government. They believe they have no control over government, especially Congress.
  
• Don’t Knows:They can’t tell a Democrat from a Republican, and don’t care to. They are very unlikely to register. They’re afraid they’ll be called for jury duty.
  
• Alienated:Here are the hard-core, most pessimistic non-voters. Two-thirds of them believe “little people don’t count.”
  
• Can’t Shows: This huge group includes not only the 5 million people who say they are too busy to vote, but also 14.5 million legal immigrants who have not obtained U.S. citizenship and 4.2 million convicted felons.

So who does vote and why?Based on absolutely no data —just gut feeling and years of observing — here’s a rundown of who the still-voting voters appear to be:

• Ax-Grinders:These folks are most active in small-town and school board elections. They have a very specific beef against a certain incumbent or administrator, and they vote with a vengeance.
  
• Do-Gooders:Civics was not just another high-school class for this group; it was an indoctrination. They may resemble the non-voting “Doers” when it comes to education and involvement, but their to-do list always includes voting.
  
• The Patriots: When it comes to serving their country, this generation has been there, done that and never stopped. These are the men and women who fought in World War II or sacrificed on the home front. They are loyal newspaper readers, regular churchgoers and bedrock citizens. To them, voting is more than fulfillment of a civics lesson; it’s a privilege for which they have seen brothers and friends die.
  
• The Party Standard Bearers:Bitten by the political bug, these yellow-dog Democrats and true-blue Republicans man their party headquarters and keep fair booths going. They vote a near-perfect party line, but their numbers are dwindling.
  
• The Plugged-in Generation: This small but growing group may seem disaffected to its elders, but the Internet is changing all that. They’re eager to be adults, set their own rules and maybe elect their own candidates.
  
• The Faithful: You hear a lot about the religious right, but there are plenty of mission-minded voters on the left, also. They vote because they believe it’s part of their opportunity to set the world right for God.
  
• The Swept-Alongs: This large contingent is not particularly committed to voting and doesn’t try to keep up with the issues. But when elections roll around, if they hear enough people talking politics at their favorite barbecue stop, they might vote in reaction to some of the opinions they’ve heard. They won’t bother with lesser races that they would have to research; just the more sensational ones about which they’ve heard some type of gossip. They probably would all fall into the category political scientists call “Swing Voters” and are heavily influenced by their friends, the Ax-Grinders.