Labor Council Outreach and Union Member Voter Turnout: A Microanalysis from the 2000 Election

Abstract

A resource‐mobilization theoretical framework is used to model voter turnout as a function of contacts performed by a politically active labor council. Results indicate that the probability of voting in the 2000 national election was 27 to 17 percentage points higher for grocery workers that received a get‐out‐the‐vote telephone contact just before the election or on Election Day. Workers contacted 2 months prior to the election were associated with an 8 to 11 percentage point gain in voter turnout. The results imply that by pooling resources organized labor can serve as a positive social institution for increasing the political participation of working‐class citizens.