Why people vote in local level referendums: comparing Germany and the United States

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although local level referendums have been quite common in the last three decades, there is little research on who participates. This article seeks to address this gap in the literature and analyses the determinants of turnout in local level referendums in Germany and the USA. Our analysis tests for explanatory power of civicness, political knowledge, interest in local politics, saliency of the referendum topic, party cues and citizens as decision-makers. It controls for satisfaction with democracy, voting in local elections and education. We use individual level data collected through an original survey in February–April 2018, which included respondents who had referendums organized in their community, since they became eligible to vote. In both countries voting in local level referendums is driven by engagement with elections and political knowledge, while civicness and interest in politics have mixed effects.