加拿大政治本科課程dissertation：Why is voter turnout comparatively low in the United States and does this tell us anything important about the quality of democracy in America compared to other affluent democracies?

 

 

1. Introduction

In this paper, the researcher will make an introduction about the situation of the voter turnout in the United States, and then make an analysis of the reasons for the low voter turnout as well as factors affecting the low voter turnout. 在本文中，筆者將對美國選民的投票情況的介紹，然后對投票率低的原因分析以及影響低投票率的因素。

 

 

2. Voter turnout in the United States 

In the United States, every American citizen over the age of 18 is qualified for the vote. According to the census results of the United States in 2010, it has a total population of 308 million and the people over the age of 18 accounts for 76%. That is to say, the country has about 230 million eligible voters currently .

 

 

However, for the United States presidential election, American voter turnout is very low, and it is only about 50%.

 

 

3. Reasons for the low voter turnout

There are various reasons for the low voter turnout. 

 

 

At present, a more generally accepted explanation is that the process and way of the American vote is less convenient than other countries. The United States still maintains the relatively cumbersome registration system. Party relationship is loose and it can not have strong appeal and cohesion for its voters. 

 

 

First of all, in addition to North Dakota, other states all regulate that voters must deal with register formalities in advance and take part in the vote. Although vote locations are often the voters’ places to live in, Americans often change places to live in. Therefore, the registration is very troublesome.

 

 

Second, different from many other countries, the United States presidential election does not hold on holidays or weekends, but usually on Tuesday. This is a normal working day, and many people often have no time to vote.

 

 

In addition, the United States presidential election is more cumbersome and complex than any other country. Generally speaking, Americans also do not want to spend too much time and energies to study related issues such as politics, economy, and diplomacy. Also not many people still have learning enthusiasm at the legal voting age. American people, especially young people, generally hold relatively indifferent attitudes towards politics. #p#分頁標題#e#

 

 

4. Factors affecting the low voter turnout 

For American people, voting is very simple, and it is hard to know who to vote for. There are several recent and non-related factors which may have influence on their decisions. For example, many instances have shown that the economic performance of the election year is more important than the previous years. The lower unemployment rate, good personal incomes and GDP growth in in a positive level are quite favorable for Obama.

 

 

Other so-called “non related factors”, often mean that the President actually cannot control those factors, such as sports and weather. Studies have shown that before the election, if the university football team in the region won the game, in the process of subsequent President, senator or governor election, the opportunity that the incumbent candidate won a second term will increase by 1.6% (Tomba & Luigi, 2005).

 

 

In 1916, for example, there were successive shark attacks in New Jersey beach. In the President election, the approval rate of the incumbent President Woodrow Wilson in the beach town has fell by 8%.

 

 

Bad weather is also against the incumbent President. According to weather data for study since 1896, extreme drought or flood can make the approval rate of the incumbent President fell by an average of 1.5% (Putnam & Robert, 1993).

 

 

Voters are often not so rational. A professor from the university of California said that “ we can imagine an ideal world, in which everyone understands the represented interests of the candidates fully, according to the policy and proposals, people vote. However, I am sure that we do not live in the world.” Even some researchers told people that “if you do not know what you are doing, you do not vote.” Many people listen to the advice from experts, and the turnout is lower.選民往往是不合理的。一個來自加利福尼亞大學的教授說，“我們可以想象一個理想的世界，在其中每個人都理解為代表的利益的候選人充分，根據(jù)政策和建議，人們投票。然而，我確信，我們不是生活在世界上。“即使有些研究者告訴人們，“如果你不知道你在做什么，你不投票。“很多人聽專家的建議，和投票率較低。

 

 

5. Transnational comparison of voter turnout and its meaning

In 2012, the voter turnout in Russia is 65.34%. The voter turnout in South Korea in 2013 has exceeded 75%. It means that since the right to vote for the people who live in democratic countries, is very important, the turnout in the countries, such as Denmark, Belgium, Sweden Iceland and Italy, is about 70%~80% (Grosser & Jens, 2006). Compared with these countries, the turnout in the United States is seemingly lower.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

 

This means that in America, many people do not have vote enthusiasm, and they may not understand politics well. A lot of people even do not understand the basic problems. For example, according to the survey, nearly half of the voters do not know that Romney has tougher stance than Mr Obama on abortion. Only 40% of the people know that in Obama’s presidency, the house of representatives is controlled by republicans. And this is a very important consideration for understanding American politics status.

 

 

Of course, there are still some parties and voters with deeper background who understand and pay more attention to politics. However, they tend to hold a lot of wrong information. For instance, nearly a third of republicans believe that Mr. Obama was born in a foreign country and there is no eligible to run for President of the United States.

 

 

6. Conclusion 

Through the transnational comparison of voter turnout between America and other countries, the researcher has found out that there are many factors which can make an influence on the voter turnout. Cumbersome registration system itself, and other “non related factors”, such as sports and weather will be the reasons for lower voter turnout.

 

 

References

Grosser, Jens et al. 2006. “Neighborhood Information Exchange and Voter Participation: An Experimental Study”, American Political Science Review, 100(May), 147-63.

Putnam, Robert. 1993. http://www.ttc-switch.com/Assignment_Writing/ Making Democracy works: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Tomba, Luigi. 2005. “Residential Space and Collective Interest Formation in Beijing’s Housing Disputes”, The China Quarterly, 184(Dec.), 934-51.