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What, Me Vote?

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  • Richard B. Freeman

Abstract

This paper examines the pattern of change in turnout in elections and in the rate of voting of different socioeconomic groups in the US. It shows that while the changing education and income structure of the population and changes in laws and regulations that make it easier to register and to vote should have raised turnout, the proportion of the voting age population that votes has fallen. This is partly due to the increased proportion of voting age persons who are ineligible to vote, but it is hard to pin down the magnitude of that effect due to problems with data. It also finds that turnout has become much more unequal by age, education, and income.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard B. Freeman, 2003. "What, Me Vote?," NBER Working Papers 9896, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9896
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McDonald, Michael P. & Popkin, Samuel L., 2001. "The Myth of the Vanishing Voter," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 95(4), pages 963-974, December.
    2. Richard B. Freeman, 2003. "What Do Unions Do ... to Voting?," NBER Working Papers 9992, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Silver, Brian D. & Anderson, Barbara A. & Abramson, Paul R., 1986. "Who Overreports Voting?," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(2), pages 613-624, June.
    4. Squire, Peverill & Wolfinger, Raymond E. & Glass, David P., 1987. "Residential Mobility and Voter Turnout," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 45-65, March.
    5. Gerber, Alan S. & Green, Donald P., 2000. "The Effects of Canvassing, Telephone Calls, and Direct Mail on Voter Turnout: A Field Experiment," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 94(3), pages 653-663, September.
    6. Knack, Stephen, 1993. "Does motor voter work? Evidence from state-level data," MPRA Paper 28079, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 1994.
    7. Burden, Barry C., 2000. "Voter Turnout and the National Election Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(4), pages 389-398, July.
    8. McDonald, Michael P., 2003. "On the Overreport Bias of the National Election Study Turnout Rate," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(02), pages 180-186, March.
    9. Alan Gerber & Donald Green, 2000. "The effects of canvassing, direct mail, and telephone contact on voter turnout: A field experiment," Natural Field Experiments 00248, The Field Experiments Website.
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    Cited by:

    1. Vincent Mahler, 2006. "Electoral Turnout and Income Redistribution by the State: A Cross-National Analysis of the Developed Democracies," LIS Working papers 455, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Christine Fauvelle-Aymar & Abel François, 2006. "The impact of closeness on turnout: An empirical relation based on a study of a two-round ballot," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 461-483, June.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General

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