One exception shows how much civic activism matters: once young people became more active in elections in 2006 and 2008, lawmakers responded to them by improving federal student aid policies.
The survey involved 450 people who have been active in elections here since 1984, and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
"It's not lonely out there anymore," said Joe Sudbay, political director of Handgun Control, which for years was the only gun control group active in elections.
Feinblatt said the group was focused on the 2014 midterms but planned to be active in elections for years to come.
"The RNLA expects to have over 1,000 lawyers trained and active in elections across the country," said Michael Thielen, the group's executive director.
The three groups have distributed more than $450 million in grants to other nonprofits, many of them active in elections, since 2009, according to nonprofit tax forms compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
On Monday, for instance, Steve Rosenthal, who was the chief executive of America Coming Together, a Democratic fund-raising vehicle that focused on voter mobilization in the 2004 election, convened a group of political operatives, many of whom were active in that election, at a Washington restaurant to discuss what might be done for 2012.
"I decided to become a citizen because I want to be active in the election of this president," said Mr. Holguin, a waiter who is a registered Republican.
As long as campaign financing entails the matching of public funds to private donations, it keeps big money interests active in the election business.
As in Avcilar, the youth organizations of parties in Turkey have been vigorously active in this election campaign, with young volunteers meeting and greeting voters in the streets, distributing pamphlets and going door-to-door to solicit votes.
