Description
A large amount of research examines the effect of partisan polarization on the institution of Congress, yet we know remarkably little about this political phenomenon’s precise effect on the political behavior of the American electorate. Some scholars argue that polarization is healthy for democracy because it allows political elites to send clear cues to the mass public, but other scholars postulate that polarization is bad for democracy. Decades of research on voter turnout resulted in a vast accumulation of knowledge on the subject. However, scholars must pay greater attention to data collection and measurement strategies because the prevalent technique to quantify voter turnout artificially deflates participation rates. I take two paths to uncover the effects of partisanship on the decision to vote. From the micro perspective, I utilize a variety of partisanship measures based on survey data. From the aggregate perspective, I argue that calculating voter turnout based on the voting eligible population (VEP) is a superior measurement strategy to other techniques. I adoopt a VEP measure of voter turnout for state-wide races (1994-2010). The results suggest that polarization is an important factor that increases voter turnout at both the individual and aggregate levels.
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Details
Title
- Partisan polarization and voter turnout in U.S. elections
Contributors
- Bumgardner, Erik (Author)
- Espino, Rodolfo (Thesis advisor)
- Fridkin, Kim (Committee member)
- Kenney, Patrick (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2016
Subjects
Resource Type
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Note
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thesisPartial requirement for: Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2016
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bibliographyIncludes bibliographical references (pages 114-120)
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Field of study: Political science
Citation and reuse
Statement of Responsibility
by Erik Bumgardner