Presentation Pro
Magruder’s
American Government
C H A P T E R 6-4
Voter Behavior
© 2001 by Prentice Hall, Inc.
SECTION 4
Voter Behavior
• What is the nonvoting problem and what is
its scope?
• Identify those people who typically don’t
vote.
• Examine the behavior of those who vote and
those who do not?
• What are the sociological and psychological
factors that affect voting?
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Chapter 6, Section 4
SECTION 4
Nonvoting
In ancient Athens (Greece), idiots
(idiotes) were citizens who did not vote or
otherwise take part in public life.
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Nonvoters
• Millions of Americans do not vote when
elections are held.
• Only 58 percent of eligible voters cast
ballots in the 2012 presidential election,
and only about 50 percent of the
electorate voted for the members of the
House of Representatives.
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Nonvoters
• Voter turnout significantly decreases in off-year
elections, congressional elections held in years
when there is no presidential election.
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Nonvoters
• There are millions of non-voters among the voters
that vote. Huh?
• 5-10 million voters that cast a ballot for President in
2000 could have voted for a member of Congress
too, but didn’t.
• This is common in state and local elections too.
• The further down the ballot an office is, the fewer
number of votes will be cast for it.
• This is known as ballot fatigue
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Why People Do Not Vote
• “Cannot-Voters”
• Some people cannot vote for various reasons:
• Physical or mental illness – 2 to 3 million
• Unexpected travel – 1 to 2 million
• Resident alien citizenship status.
–Of the 110 million that did not vote in the 2012
election, at least 20 million were resident
aliens.
• Adults in jails and prisons – 2 million
• Religious beliefs – 100,000
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Why People Do Not Vote
• An unknown number of people have not been able
to vote because:
• The purposeful administration of election laws to
keep them from doing so
• Various local or informal pressures that keep
them from voting
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Why People Do Not Vote
• In 2012, there were more than 85 million
Americans who could have voted, but did not
• Most nonvoters do not vote because:
• voting is in some way inconvenient – they are too busy
• No sense of Political Efficacy:
• they do not believe that their vote will make a
difference or
• they distrust politics and political candidates
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Why People Do Not Vote
• Is voting inconvenient?
• Some cite cumbersome election procedures as a
reason for non-voting
• Inconvenient registration requirements
• Long ballots
• Long lines at polling places
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Why People Do Not Vote
• Time Zone Fallout
• Polls in states in the Eastern and Central time zones
close an hour or more before polls in Mountain and
Pacific time zones.
• The media may project winners in states in the east
and Midwest before voters in the west get a chance
to vote
• Some argue that this discourages western voters
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Why People Do Not Vote
• The Indifferent
• For some, non-voting occurs because there is a lack of
interest
• Some of these people are usually woefully
uninformed
• They know little about the candidates or issues
• Some argue that it is good that these citizens do
not vote
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Voters vs Nonvoters
• People who are more likely to vote:
• Generally have higher levels of income and
education
• Involved in their community
• Long-time residents of their community
• Have strong political party identification
• They believe that voting is an important act
• They live in areas where laws, customs, and
competition between parties all promote voter
turnout
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Voters vs Nonvoters
• People who are nonvoters:
• Usually younger than age 35
• Unmarried
• Unskilled labor
• Live in the South, or rural areas
• Men are less likely to vote than women
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Voters vs Nonvoters
• Most important voting factors:
• People with a high sense of political
efficacy
• Degree of two-party competition in an area
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Voters and Voting Behavior
Voting is studied more than any other form of political
participation in the United States. We learn about voting
behavior from:
•
The results of elections—information can be gleaned by studying the
results of confidential voting compared to the population make-up of a particular
sector
•
The field of survey research—data can be gathered by conducting
polls across specific cross sections of the population, as the Gallup
Organization does
•
Studies of political socialization—studying political
socialization, the process by which people gain their political attitudes and
opinions, can also be useful in predicting voting behavior
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Sociological Factors
Voter preferences can’t be predicted by just
one sociological factor. Voter opinion is a
combination of all of these factors and more.
Income and
Occupation
Education
Gender and Age
Religious and
Ethnic Background
Geography
Family and Other
Groups
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Chapter 6, Section 4
Psychological Factors
Voters’ perceptions of their party, the candidates, and the issues
significantly affects their voting.
Party Identification
Candidates and Issues
•
•
The loyalty of people to a
particular political party is the
single most significant and
lasting predictor of how a
person will vote.
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Candidates and issues are
two short-term factors that
can influence even the most
loyal Democrat or
Republican. People may
vote out of their chosen party
if they dislike a candidate or
the party’s stand on a
particular issue.
Chapter 6, Section 4