Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:06:22.817Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

American Voter Turnout in Comparative Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

G. Bingham Powell Jr.
G. Bingham Powell Jr.*
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite relatively favorable citizen attitudes, voter turnout in American national elections is far below the average of 80% of the eligible electorate that votes in other industrialized democracies. The American institutional setting—particularly the party system and the registration laws—severely inhibits voter turnout, and probably also accounts for the unusual degree to which education and other socioeconomic resources are directly linked to voting participation in the United States.

Using a combination of aggregate and comparative survey data, the present analysis suggests that in comparative perspective, turnout in the United States is advantaged about 5% by political attitudes, but disadvantaged 13% by the party system and institutional factors, and up to 14% by the registration laws. The experience of other democracies suggests that encouraging voter participation would contribute to channeling discontent through the electoral process. Even a significantly expanded American electorate would be more interested and involved in political activity than are present voters in most other democracies.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 80 , Issue 1 , March 1986 , pp. 17 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramson, Paul R. and Aldrich, John H.. 1982. The Decline of Electoral Participation in America. American Political Science Review, 76: 502–521.Google Scholar
Abramson, Paul R., Aldrich, John H., and Rohde, David W.. 1983. Change and Continuity in the 1980 Elections. Washington: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Almond, Gabriel A. and Verba, Sidney. 1963. The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Barnes, Samuel H., Kaase, Max, et al. 1979. Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Caldeira, Gregory A. and Patterson, Samuel C.. 1982. Contextual Influences on Participation in U.S. State Legislative Elections. Legislative Studies Quarterly, 7: 359–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldeira, Gregory A., Patterson, Samuel C. and Markko, Gregory A.. 1985. The Mobilization of Voters in Congressional Elections. Journal of Politics, 47: 490–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castles, Stephan and Kosack, Godula. 1973. Immigrant Workers and Class Structure in Western Europe. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Clausen, Aage R. 1968–1969. Response Validity: Vote Report. Public Opinion Quarterly, 32: 588–606.Google Scholar
Crewe, Ivor. 1981. Electoral Participation. In Butler, David, Penniman, Howard R., and Ranney, Austin, eds., Democracy at the Polls. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
Denver, D. T. and Hands, H. T.. 1975. Marginality and Turnout in British General Elections. British Journal of Political Science, 4: 17–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flanagan, Scott. 1984. Electoral Change in Japan: A Study of Secular Realignment. In Dalton, Russell J., Flanagan, Scott C., and Beck, Paul Allen, eds., Electoral Change. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Glass, David P., Squire, Peverill and Wolfinger, Raymond E.. 1984. Voter Turnout: An International Comparison. Public Opinion, December/January: 49–55.Google Scholar
Herman, Valentine, with Mendel, Francoise. 1976. Parliaments of the World. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Holmberg, Soren. 1981. Svenska Valjare. Stockholm: Liberforlag.Google Scholar
Irvine, William P. 1976. Testing Explanations of Voting Turnout in Canada. In Budge, Ian, Crewe, Ivor, and Farlie, Dennis, eds., Party Identification and Beyond. London: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Janda, Kenneth. 1980. Political Parties: A Cross-National Survey. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Katosh, John P. and Traugott, Michael W.. 1981. Consequences of Validated and Self-reported Voting Measures. Public Opinion Quarterly, 45: 519–535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krane, Ronald E. 1979. International Labor Migration in Europe. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Levine, Stephen, and Robinson, Alan. 1976. The New Zealand Voter. Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand University Press and Price Milburn.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan. 1980. The New Spanish Party System. In Rose, Richard, ed., Electoral Participation: A Comparative Analysis. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Mackie, Thomas, and Rose, Richard. 1982. The International Almanac of Electoral History, 2nd ed. New York: Free Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Mark J. 1981. Foreign Workers in Western Europe. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Miller, Warren E., Miller, Arthur H., and Schneider, Edward J.. 1980. American National Election Studies Data Sourcebook 1952–78. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Nie, Norman H., Verba, Sidney, and Petrocik, John. 1976. The Changing American Voter. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Niemi, Richard G., Stanley, Harold W., and Evans, Charles L.. 1984. Age and Turnout Among the Newly Enfranchised: life Cycle Versus Experience Effects. European Journal of Political Research, 12: 371–86.Google Scholar
Patterson, Samuel C., and Caldeira, Gregory A.. 1983. Getting Out the Vote: Participation in Gubernatorial Elections. American Political Science Review, 77: 675–689.Google Scholar
Political Action: An Eight Nation Study 1973–1976. Zentralarchiv für empirische Sozialforschung. 1979. Machine Readable Codebook. Cologne: University of Cologne.Google Scholar
Powell, G. Bingham Jr., 1980. Voting Turnout in Thirty Democracies. In Rose, Richard, ed., Electoral Participation. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Powell, G. Bingham Jr., 1982. Contemporary Democracies: Participation, Stability and Violence. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rabier, Jacques-Rene and Inglehart, Ronald. 1981. Euro-Barometer 11–April, 1979. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research.Google Scholar
Rosenstone, Steven J. and Wolfinger, Raymond. 1978. The Effect of Registration Laws on Voter Turnout. American Political Science Review, 72: 22–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill, Glass, David P., and Wolfinger, Raymond E.. 1984. Residential Mobility and Voter Turnout. Presented at the conference: Where Have All the Voters Gone?, April 26-28, Chicago.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles and Jodice, David A.. 1983. World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators III. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
United Nations. 1979, 1981, 1983. Demographic Yearbooks. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of Census. 1978. Voting and Registration in the Election of November, 1976. Current Population Reports. Ser. P-20, no. 322. Washington, D.C.: Department of Commerce.Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of Census. 1982. Voting and Registration in the Election of November, 1980. Current Population Reports. Ser. P-20, no. 370. Washington, D.C.: Department of Commerce.Google Scholar
University of Michigan Center for Political Studies. 1961–1982. Codebooks for the National Election Studies, 1960–1980. Ann Arbor, Mich.: ICPSR.Google Scholar
Valen, Henry. 1979. Structural Change and Ideological Dimensions in a Multiparty System: The Case of Norway. Presented at the International Political Science Association World Congress, August 12-18, Moscow.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Nie, Norman H., and Kim, Jae-on. 1971. The Modes of Democratic Participation. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Nie, Norman H., and Kim, Jae-on. 1978. Participation and Political Equality: A Seven-Nation Comparison. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wolfinger, Raymond E. and Rosenstone, Steven J.. 1980. Who Votes? New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.