 Factors Influencing Interregional Differentials in the Voter Participation Rate in the U.S., 2006Richard Cebula () and Christopher Coombs () MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Abstract: The voter participation rate in the U.S. varies significantly from one region to another. At the state level, the percentage of the population that was eligible to vote and that actually did so ranged from a low of 33.5 percent (Texas) to a high of 62.1 percent (South Dakota). The purpose of this chapter is to identify key economic, political, and demographic factors that influenced this interregional voter turnout rate differential. Using state-level data for the 2006 general election, this study examines the roles played by income, unemployment, education, age, race, and labor force participation. In addition, this empirical study seeks to broaden the interpretation of the “rational voter model” so as to include the potential effects of the number of statewide legislative referenda. In particular, this study tests the hypothesis that greater numbers of such referenda increase voter turnout because they elevate the expected gross benefits of voting by “empowering voters” while not significantly increasing the expected gross costs of voting. Keywords: voter participation rate; interregional analysis; statewide legislative referenda; rational voter model (search for similar items in EconPapers) Published in Handbook of Regional Economics (2009): pp. 253-262 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:56786 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC. |
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