Preview

Factors That Affect Voter Turnout

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
374 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Factors That Affect Voter Turnout
There are numbers of factors that affect voter turnout. There are voters who are only interested in the presidential; however, there are voters who are interested in all elections. A simple factor of a low turnout can be as simple as the lack of interest of voters. One’s age, gender, and transportation to the polls is a factor. The weather plays a factor in the turnout of an election; a bright sunny day will have a higher turnout while a rainy, cold, and snowy day has lower turnouts. Socioeconomic status, a controversial item, the voter’s knowledge, wealth of a nation, the population size, and current government is in control (communist), fear of their lives, etc. are factors as well (IDEA, 2012)
In 2008, there was approximately a 60% turnout
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Two Party System Affects Voting
    • 57 Words
    • 1 Page

    The Two Party System Affects Voting

    The two party system sometimes affects voting turnout. A state is usually considered a Democratic, Republic, or swing State. Some people think that their vote doesn’t matter because if their states is Democratic (or Republic) then the Democratic (or Republican) candidate will receive their state’s electoral votes. This results to only 45% of eligible voters actually voting.…

    • 57 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    POL 201 Week 5 DQ 2 Voting and Turnout
    • 8316 Words
    • 26 Pages

    POL 201 Week 5 DQ 2 Voting and Turnout

    Voting and Turnout. The U.S. has one of the lowest voter turnout rates among modern democratic political systems. One study ranks the U.S. 120th on a list of 169 nations compared on voter turnout (Pintor, Gratschew, & Sullivan, 2002). While during the last decade many initiatives have been undertaken to increase voter participation, concerns about the possibility of election fraud have also increased. Additionally, some political interests feel threatened by the increase in turnout among some traditionally low-turnout ethnic minorities.…

    • 8316 Words
    • 26 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    POSC AG21 13
    • 1446 Words
    • 7 Pages

    POSC AG21 13

    7. One of the reasons for the low turnout among American voters is that the individual in the U.S. assumes responsibility for registering to vote, whereas in most other democracies voters are registered automatically by government officials. True…

    • 1446 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Robert Powell's Bowling Alone
    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Robert Powell's Bowling Alone

    First, Teixeira points to individual, psychological, and cultural explanations. Then, Piven and Cloward indicate to government and institutional evidence especially within parties. Finally, Putnam stresses social and environmental factors including diminishing social capital and civic engagement that have contributed to the voter turnout decline. A major factor that the authors disagree upon is how large the role of education level plays in whether Americans vote. Teixeira and Piven and Cloward claim that education is an important variable in determining voter turnout and that those who are not well-educated often do not vote. While the two respective works offer different reasons for why the lesser educated Americans do not vote, they both agree that the lowest class suffers the most. This is true in terms of both structural and psychological reasons. First, Parties do not mobilize these voters and they know a lot less about the registration process and about politics itself. Additionally, educated people are more likely to participate in social connectivity and politics, and therefore aren’t declining at as steep of a…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Voter Turnout Research Paper
    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Voter Turnout Research Paper

    Voter turnout is defined as a number of voters who actually cast ballots in an election, to a percentage of people eligible to register and vote. About half of the voting age population historically does not vote, even in presidential elections. The voter turnout is even lower in off year congressional and state elections. Turn out in local elections is even lower. Voter turn out is always higher in years with a presidential election. Voter turn out has generally declined since the 1960’s. Voter turnout can take a huge upswing when the elections have highly contested issues with differing candidate platforms.…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    In Praise of Low Voter Turnout
    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Praise of Low Voter Turnout

    Charles Krauthammer’s article In Praise of Low Voter Turnout raises an important issue America faces as a democratic republic. The problem that is frequently addressed tends to be that voter turnout is lower than most other democratic countries; however, in respect to the working population, being over 50% nationally is not nearly as poor as it would seem.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Voter Turnout Analysis
    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Voter Turnout Analysis

    First, Models 1-4 suggest that turnout does not have a significant impact on party strength. In the national party strength models, turnout does indeed have a significant and positive impact on party strength. This finding makes perfect sense. At the start of the period of study, whether one voted was highly dependent on class. Today, this relationship is not as strong. Figures 3.3 and 3.4 show a distinctive upward trend in the data. Moreover, midterm effects are visible. It makes it reasonable to expect that more new voters were showing up at the polls and voting for at least some Republican candidates in high profile races. Turnout is not by itself significant in any of the state party strength models. This suggests that candidates such as Senator Trent Lott and President Ronald Reagan may have been able to convince new southern voters to show up and vote for them, but those new voters continued to vote for Democratic candidates in state level…

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The election campaign is now more important than long term factors in shaping voting behaviour
    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The election campaign is now more important than long term factors in shaping voting behaviour

    There are many factors that affect voting behaviour such as, the voters age, the voter gender, or even where they’ve been bought up. The election campaign is the months before the general election where various parties try and get as much support as possible. Some may argue that the campaign is now more important than the long term factors which shaped voting behaviour.…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Are Americans Apathetic To Vote
    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Are Americans Apathetic To Vote

    Owe to the fact that, most Americans have a very busy schedule, they start to lose interest or act less concern about voting. Americans have to worry about work, family, and other life obligations tend to get in the way of the civic duties like voting. During election times, voting schedules are very hectic, and it could be very challenging to go vote for some Americans. Voting is a duty that all citizens, whom are eligible, that could make a sudden impact in their lives. Unfortunately, people think that taking a good fifteen till about twenty minutes a day just to go and let your voice is…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Bad Weather Lowers Voter Turnout
    • 2336 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Bad Weather Lowers Voter Turnout

    To understand, consider the classic “calculus of voting” model, R = PB - C + D, first proposed by Downs (1957) and later adapted by Riker and Ordeshook (1968), where R is the reward gained from voting in a given election, P is the probability of a vote influencing the outcome of the election, B is the differential benefit of one candidate winning over the other, C is the cost of voting (e.g., time and effort spent), and D is the psychological benefit of voting derived from things like feelings of civic duty or altruism. Most scholarship on voting has assumed—either explicitly or implicitly—that inclement weather impacts elections only through increasing C, the actual costs associated with voting (e.g., through causing poor driving conditions), and therefore that inclement weather might only impact election outcomes through its effect on voter turnout. In contrast, we argue that inclement weather also impacts voting behavior through its effect on D, the psychology of the voter, and through the individual’s perception of the values of P and B. Therefore, we contend that precipitation might impact not only voter turnout, but also voters’ choices at the…

    • 2336 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Voter Turnout Rate
    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Voter Turnout Rate

    Voter turnout is the number of voters who actually showed up to vote vs. the total number of eligible voters. This is calculated by dividing the number of valid votes by the number of registered voters. There are two ways of calculating that determines voter turnout. The reported turnout (Voting-age Population or VAP) is the result of the population who are aged 18 and older. This turnout rate includes people that are ineligible to vote which include felons and non-citizens. The more accurate measure of voter turnout is the Voting-eligible population (VEP). This turnout rate subtracts the ineligible population. The VEP turnout rate is normally higher than that of the VAP.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Voter Turnout In The United States
    • 161 Words
    • 1 Page

    Voter Turnout In The United States

    Voter turnout can increase if the United States makes it compulsory like the other democratic nations who turnout is 90% and up. The US is one of the few democracies that require its citizens to register to vote. In most other democratic nations this is not a separate step. The government provides the polling location to each citizen as they comprised a listing of each citizen with the person’s name, age and address. The person just has to show up to the poll to vote, show identification and then are checked against that location’s list. The US leaves the registration to each citizen. A significant number of voters never take the initial step of bothering to register. And then those that take this step may show up to vote to find out there…

    • 161 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Voting In Texas
    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Voting In Texas

    Voter turnout in the United States compared to other countries is extremely low. The text book explains that low voter turnout in Texas can be attributed to wealth, race and education. If we attribute the same reasons as to why voter turnout…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Influence Of Voting In America
    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Influence Of Voting In America

    As Americans we sure do love our freedom. We want a say in everything, especially…

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Voter Turnout
    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Essay On Voter Turnout

    Considering that the percentage of registered voters is usually a fraction of the eligible voting population, it’s easy to deduce the factors that are influencing voter turnout by simply looking at the statistical information from the groups that do tend to vote and those that don’t. In 2012 only around 65-71% of the voting-age population was even registered, compared to around 96% for Sweden and 93% in the United Kingdom. Some countries, like Japan, have actually seen a pretty large decrease in voter turnout in the past couple of decades from 75-52% from 1990 to this year. This is only a trend usually seen in OECD countries, which most are seeing a downward drift further into the future. Pretty much compulsive voting, influenced by the major issues of the terms are what will drive voter turnout to either go up or down. It’s similar for some other countries as well; the percentages will fluctuate so I don’t think there is a major difference in voter…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics