In the Midst of Fellows: The Social Context of the American Turnout Decision
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CONTRIBUTORS:
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UNIVERSITY / COLLEGE:
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YEAR:
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2003
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PUB TYPE:
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Thesis/Dissertation
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PAGES:
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15,
234 p.
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SUBJECT(S):
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Voter Turnout; Social Norms; Validated Vote
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DISCIPLINE:
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Political Science
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HTTP:
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LANGUAGE:
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English
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PUB ID:
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103-412-315
(Last edited on
2005/02/04 15:42:45 US/Mountain)
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SPONSOR(S):
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ABSTRACT:
Before one can make any choices on a ballot she must first decide that she intend to vote, register if necessary, and then show up at the polls. In America, this is not a set of actions where nearly “everyone does it” or “only a few” participate. With the presidential election turnout of the voting age population fluctuating in the low 50% range since 1972, one may assume that any two randomly selected individuals of voting-age eligibility will likely include one person who chooses to vote for president and one who does not. The fundamental question for political scientists studying electoral participation is to explain generalizable differences between these two people. Voting behavior studies in the past 50 years have primarily highlighted institutional, psychological and rational choice models to describe a turnout decision process that is profoundly individualistic. I argue that there is a social context to the decision to vote that can transcend individual cost-benefit decisions, resources or political attitudes. This can be seen when one looks at the electorate not as randomly distributed atomistic decision makers but instead as pairs, or in more everyday terms couples, families, roommates or neighbors. Thus, the undervalued approach to understanding turnout is to realize that voters are not randomly distributed. I use official Registrar of Voter data from four California counties linked to a survey of 1,651 residents from those areas inquiring about their political attitudes and household makeup to study the household patterns of voter turnout in the 2000 general and primary elections. The American National Election Study (NES), the Census Bureau Voter Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Comparative Study Of Electoral Systems (CSES) are used to replicate similar household and local-level models. The empirical results of this study reveal a strong social connection between the turnout of the individual and that of others living in their household while controlling for the demographics and attitudes of the respondent and the mobilization attempts of a variety of actors. The root of this connection is based in norms and a reflection of household and neighborhood participatory political cultures.
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