Revisiting the Profile of the American Voter in the Context of Declining Turnout

The phenomenon of declining voter turnout in U.S. national elections has been one of the major perplexing issues that political scientists have attempted to explain in recent decades. Today we are face to face with a participation rate that has fallen nearly one-quarter of its initial value since 1960. My article has aimed at redrawing the profile of the American voter in the second half of the 20th century. Reliable data for the period of 40 years presented a valuable opportunity to add to the picture of the turnout phenomenon in the tradition of a behavioral approach. In the first part of this work I have tested test the notion that the overall level of life satisfaction affects the individual’s decision whether or not to participate in elections. Known to be directly related to the well-being of its citizens, the economic performance of the entire state was another criterion to be tested as to its effect on the voter turnout over last 40 years. Hence, in this section, I have checked for the impact of macroeconomic indicators such as the minimum wage, unemployment, and inflation rates, as well as the announced percentage of the population temporarily receiving financial assistance from the government. Next, I referred to societal factors and analyzed whether the sense of insecurity or the level of crime has discouraged people to vote. Finally, concerning institutional factors, I measured the changes in the overall turnout since 1960, controlling for an increased population due to foreign-born immigrants.