Who Votes Now? (ebook)

Argumento de Who Votes Now? (ebook)

"Americans vote at a lesser rate than citizens of virtually every other democracy in the world. Leighley and Nagler's carefully nuanced analysis reveals an income bias separating voters and nonvoters, along with sometimes sharp differences in policy preferences between the two groups. This important book sets the standard for understanding the motivations of voters and nonvoters, and for evaluating the impact of remedies designed to increase turnout and participation equality."--Robert Erikson, Columbia University

"Ongoing struggles over voter participation continue to be a defining ingredient of partisan competition and democratic politics in America. Leighley and Nagler provide timely and compelling evidence regarding the state of voter turnout in American presidential elections over the past four decades, and offer new perspectives on the efficacy and potential of electoral reforms intended to level the playing field in American politics."--Robert Huckfeldt, University of California, Davis

"This is the most thorough and sophisticated analysis of voting since Wolfinger and Rosenstone's definitive Who Votes?, published a quarter century ago. This becomes the new essential book for scholars and students on the demography of voters, their preferences, the context of voting laws, and choices presented by candidates. Its research and conclusions will not be superseded for some time to come."--Sidney Verba, Harvard University, coauthor of The Unheavenly Chorus

"Who Votes Now? is a welcome addition to scholarship on American voting behavior, written by two well-known, highly regarded, and capable political scientists."--Benjamin Highton, University of California, Davis

"Who Votes Now? is a very important contribution to the literature on political participation in America."--Nancy Burns, University of Michigan

Jan E. Leighley is professor of political science at American University. She is the author of Strength in Numbers?: The Political Mobilization of Racial and Ethnic Minorities (Princeton) and Mass Media and Politics: A Social Science Perspective. Jonathan Nagler is professor of politics at New York University. He is an inaugural fellow of the Society for Political Methodology.

"Who Votes Now? provides a fresh and valuable look at questions basic to the functioning of a democratic society."--Dan Balz, Washington Post0List of Figures xi
List of Tables xiii
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xix
One Introduction 1
1.1 Economic Inequality, Income Bias, and Turnout 4
1.2 Policy Choices and Turnout 6
1.3 Economic Inequality and Voting Inequality 7
1.4 Voter Turnout and Election Laws 10
1.5 Data and Chapter Outline 11
Two Demographics of Turnout 16
2.1 Measuring Voter Turnout 18
2.2 Measuring Socioeconomic Status 23
2.3 Measuring Race and Ethnicity 25
2.4 Demographics of Turnout, 1972-2008 (CPS) 27
2.5 A More or Less Representative Voting Population? 35
2.6 More or Less Income Bias? 37
2.7 Representation: Of the Eligible or the Available? 43
2.8 Conclusion 45
Appendix 2.1: Current Population Survey: Sample and Variable Details 46
Appendix 2.2: Additional Data on the Representativeness of Voters, 1972-2008 48
Three Theoretical Framework and Models 52
3.1 Costs, Benefits, and Demographics 54
3.2 Model Specification 55
3.3 Education and Income 58
3.4 Race and Ethnicity 67
3.5 Age 72
3.6 Gender and Marital Status 76
3.7 Conclusion 79
Appendix 3.1: Estimation Results for the Demographic Models of Voter Turnout 84
Appendix 3.2: Additional First Differences for Income 88
Four The Legal Context of Turnout 90
4.1 Electoral Innovation in the United States 91
4.2 Previous Research on Electoral Rules and Turnout 95
4.3 Research Design and the Search for Effects 97
4.4 The Effects of Electoral Reforms: Difference-in-Difference Estimates 100
4.5 Cross-Sectional Time Series Analysis of Aggregate Turnout 112
4.6 Conclusion 117
Appendix 4.1: Voter Registration and Election Law Data Set 119
Appendix 4.2: Sources of State-Level Turnout and
Demographic Data 120
Five Policy Choices and Turnout 121
5.1 Policy Choices and the Costs and Benefits of Voting 122
5.2 Policy Choices: Conceptualization and Measurement 124
5.3 Perceived Policy Choices, 1972-2008 126
5.4 Multivariable Analysis: Perceived Policy Alienation and Perceived Policy Difference 128
5.5 Perceived Policy Difference and Perceived Policy Alienation across Income Groups 135
5.6 Conclusion 139
Appendix 5.1: Comparing Alternative Measures of Alienation and Indifference 147
Six On the Representativeness of Voters 154
6.1 The Conventional Wisdom 155
6.2 Political Differences between Voters and Nonvoters: 1972 and 2008 158
6.3 Who Votes Matters: Policy Differences between Voters and Nonvoters 161
6.4 A More Detailed Look at Preferences: 2004 167
6.5 Conclusion 176
Appendix 6.1: Survey Question Wording 177
Seven Conclusion 182
7.1 The Politics of Candidate Choices and Policy Choices 183
7.2 Turnout and Institutions 185
7.3 On Turnout and Political Inequality 187
References 189
Index 201