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
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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Cites
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Almond, G. A., & Verba, S. (1963) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9781400874569 · Cited by 5,936
The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations
Almond, G. A., & Verba, S. (1963) · Cited by 4,055
Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies
Barnes, S. H. (1979) · Deep Blue (University of Michigan) · Cited by 1,932
Nie, N. H., Verba, S., & Petrocik, J. R. (1979) · Harvard University Press eBooks · doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674429147 · Cited by 1,119
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Forcese, D., Verba, S., Nie, N., & Kim, J. (1981) · Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie · doi:10.2307/3339872 · Cited by 1,018
POWELL, G. B. (1982) · doi:10.4159/9780674042353 · Cited by 874
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Cited by
Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945
Franklin, M. N., Eijk, C. V. D., Evans, D., Fotos, M., Hirczy de Mino, W., Marsh, M., & Wessels, B. (2004) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511616884 · Cited by 1,421
Explaining voter turnout: A review of aggregate-level research
Geys, B. (2006) · Electoral Studies · doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2005.09.002 · Cited by 860
(2000) · doi:10.1016/s0261-3794(99)00028-1 · Cited by 620
Kitschelt, H., Hawkins, K. A., Luna, J. P., Rosas, G., & Zechmeister, E. J. (2010) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511750311 · Cited by 559
Attitudes, Opportunities and Incentives: A Field Essay on Political Participation
Leighley, J. E. (1995) · Political Research Quarterly · doi:10.1177/106591299504800111 · Cited by 462
Metadata
- Authors
- Powell, G. B.
- Venue
- American Political Science Review
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- 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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