Decline Of Voting Research Articles

Realigning individual behavior with societal values: The role of planning in injunctive‐norm interventions aimed at increasing voter turnout

AbstractVoting is highly valued in democratic societies. However, in recent years there has been a marked decline in voting. To realign voting behavior with democratic values, we turn to the study of injunctive‐norm interventions. These interventions advance that by making injunctive norms, the norms representing collective values, salient to a targeted group of individuals, individuals will likely conform to the promoted norm. However, studies testing the effectiveness of injunctive‐norm interventions have produced mixed results. We hypothesize that individuals with few plans to vote are those who will be most influenced by these interventions. Individuals with few plans should be more receptive to normative influence because they do not have preconceived commitments about how to engage with voting. Study 1 (N = 141) shows that injunctive‐norm interventions influence the voting behavior of those with few plans about voting. Studies 2 (N = 152) and 3 (N = 195) bring forth evidence that this influence is also present when the salient injunctive norms are from close meaningful groups, such as family and friends.

Electoral fortunes of social democratic parties: do second dimension positions matter?

ABSTRACTThe dramatic decline in vote shares on the mainstream left in many recent elections has led to a renewed discussion about a crisis of Social Democracy. One popular argument is that Social Democratic decline is the result of these parties' liberal cultural positions and pro-EU stance, with both topics increasingly salient for their traditional voters, particularly among the working class. However, we lack comparative evidence testing this argument. In this paper, we combine CHES data on party positions with ESS survey data to analyze the electoral effects of Social Democratic parties' second dimension and EU positions. In addition, we focus on whether support from different socio-economic groups is sensitive to these positions. In contrast to much public debate, we find that more authoritarian/nationalist and more anti-EU positions are if anything associated with lower rather than greater electoral support for social democratic parties.

A Tale of Two Electorates: Generational Replacement and the Decline of Voting in Presidential Elections

This article revisits the question of voter turnout in American presidential elections from the perspective of political generations. We extend previous analyses by examining the entire period between 1952 and 1966 by further specifying the turnout model and, most important, by incorporating a generational component. We hypothesize that the direct effect of membership in the cohort born prior to 1932 is to increase voter turnout and the indirect effect of membership in this cohort is to increase the impact of party-related variables in accounting for turnout. Finally, we hypothesize that the indirect effect of membership in the cohort born after 1932 is to increase the impact of socio-economic, media-related, and candidate-related variables. Our findings strongly suggest that generational effects account for a significant component of the decrease in turnout among American citizens. The impact of generations is most pronounced in the first half of the voting life cycle.

Public Service: Our New Mission

democratic but too many Americans do not participate in public life. Social scientists have documented a decline in voting, attendance community meetings, and involvement in voluntary activities. In addition, peoples' interest in public issues, their ability to argue for their beliefs, and their respect for differences in cultural groups are in question. Higher can contribute to civic engagement, but many universities have de-emphasized their civic mission. Whereas universities once promoted education for democracy or for society, today it is hard to find top administrators consistently committed to this purpose or faculty members who consider it central to their work. Among America's institutions of higher education, research universities are strategically situated for civic engagement. Many early universities helped build the new nation. They were later joined by institutions whose leaders expressed strong social values. Charles Eliot of Harvard University, for example, wrote that at bottom, most of the American institutions of higher are filled with the democratic spirit. Other leaders argued that the route to a civil society went through the universities. It would be just as mistaken to conclude that these individual expressions became institutional behaviors, as it would to ignore that some universities practiced racial and religious discrimination. But the ideas were expressed nonetheless. Those early universities have developed into institutions with immense resources. Modern research universities have faculty members with credentials in academic disciplines and professional fields such as business and economic development, and engineering, health and human services that have great potential for problem solving and program planning. And they have large libraries, laboratories, and telecommunications facilities. They are more than educational institutions; they are also major employers, providers and consumers of goods and services, and powerful social and economic units, whose decisions affect communities regardless of the level of community involvement in knowledge development. In the process of expanding, the universities transformed themselves from civic institutions into powerful research engines, which gave rise to major changes in their objectives and operations. The professionalization of the academic disciplines, the drive for Cold War supremacy and national security, and other factors caused the institutions to expand. As they did, they also became the target of public officials, business leaders, and other critics who have charged that much classroom teaching in universities does not develop civic competencies, that much research does not serve community needs, and that universities themselves have lost' their sense of civic purpose. Today's college students want to provide direct community service, such as serving meals in a homeless shelter, but few aspire to leadership roles, such as organizing homeless people for more affordable housing. Nor are most students prepared to argue their beliefs about low-income housing policies for the nation. Indeed, studies show that the interest of entering undergraduate students in public causes is an all-time low, and that their interest actually decreases during the college years. Faculty members are ideally positioned to renew the civic mission of higher education, but many believe that the civic Barry Checkoway is professor of social work and