The dynamic effects of education on voter turnout

• Autores: Barry C. Burden
• Localización: Electoral Studies: An international Journal, ISSN 0261-3794, Vol. 28, Nº. 4, 2009, págs. 540-549
• Idioma: inglés
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• Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
• Resumen

  • In this paper I investigate the dynamic relationship between formal education and voter turnout over the past half century. I reframe Brody's puzzle about why rising education levels did not produce higher voter turnout using The American Voter's “funnel of causality” to allow for a dynamic relationship between education and turnout. Analyzing survey data from 1952 to 2004, I show that the effect of college education increased starting in 1980s, thereby magnifying the ability of educational attainment to predict turnout. In contrast, education had a constant effect on political knowledge, another common measure of civic engagement. I conclude by evaluating several explanations for these divergent results.