It\u2019s a Group Thing: How Voters go to the Polls Together

Yosef Bhatti,Kasper M Hansen,Edward Fieldhouse

doi:10.1007/s11109-018-9484-2

Yosef Bhatti, Kasper M Hansen + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-018-9484-2

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Abstract

Across European Parliament, local and general elections in Denmark between half and three quarters of voters in households with multiple voters cast their vote within a minute of another household member. This finding, revealed using data from a time-stamped voter panel covering more than two million Danish voters, establishes that many families visit the polling station together. The result are replicated using survey data from Denmark, the UK and a range of other countries, indicating that voting together is a widespread phenomenon, supporting the characterization of voting as a social act. For the first time our analysis reveals that acquiring a potential voting partner increases turnout, whilst losing one decreases turnout.

Highlights

Do people who live together vote together, and does that matter for turnout? One of the most persistent suggestions in the literature on electoral behavior in general, and voter turnout in particular, is that people are both similar to and influenced by their social intimates
Analysis of network survey data from the British Election Study Internet Panel suggests that voting with a non-household member occurred in only 6% of all instances of voting together among respondents who named at least one political discussant and who voted in company
It has long been argued that voting is a social phenomenon, subject to the effects of inter-personal influence through shared information, indirect mobilization and social norms

Summary

Introduction

Do people who live together vote together, and does that matter for turnout? One of the most persistent suggestions in the literature on electoral behavior in general, and voter turnout in particular, is that people are both similar to and influenced by their social intimates. The household is theoretically the most interesting unit with respect to joint voting, having been identified as the most influential context for political socialization (Berelson et al 1954; Glaser 1959; Zuckerman et al 2007) and empirically the most important context for inter-personal influence on turnout (Nickerson 2008; Cutts and Fieldhouse 2009; Sinclair et al 2012; Bhatti et al 2017).

Results

Conclusion