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Cited by 1,049

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 32 of the 32 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

American Voter Turnout in Comparative Perspective

Powell, G. Bingham·1986·American Political Science Review

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.

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Show all 32 references

Research works printed but not linked: 19

  1. Crewe, 1981, Democracy at the Polls
  2. Irvine, 1976, Party Identification and Beyond
  3. Verba, 1971, The Modes of Democratic Participation
  4. 1979, Demographic Yearbooks
  5. 1961, Codebooks for the National Election Studies, 1960–1980
  6. 1978, Current Population Reports
  7. Levine, 1976, The New Zealand Voter
  8. Rabier, 1981, Euro-Barometer 11–April, 1979
  9. 1982, Current Population Reports
  10. Glass, 1984, Public Opinion, 49
  11. Flanagan, 1984, Electoral Change
  12. Krane, 1979, International Labor Migration in Europe
  13. 1979, Political Action: An Eight Nation Study 1973–1976
  14. Wolfinger, 1980, Who Votes?
  15. Holmberg, 1981, Svenska Valjare
  16. 10.1515/9783111691053 · doi:10.1515/9783111691053
  17. Miller, 1981, Foreign Workers in Western Europe
  18. Powell, 1980, Electoral Participation
  19. Valen, 1979, Structural Change and Ideological Dimensions in a Multiparty System: The Case of Norway

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Metadata

Authors
Powell, G. B.
Venue
American Political Science Review
Published
1986-03
Volume
80
Issue
1
Pages
17-43
ISSN
  • 0003-0554 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-5943
OpenAlex
W2117318745
Cited by
1,049
References
32
FWCI
55.94
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: American Voter Turnout in Comparative Perspective. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.2307/1957082
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Powell, G. B. (1986). American Voter Turnout in Comparative Perspective. American Political Science Review. https://doi.org/10.2307/1957082

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