Nonprofit VOTE’s Guide to Gaps in Voter Participation

Gaps by Demographics

The charts below come from U.S. Census surveys of voters in presidential and mid-term elections.  

By Income

The Census does not make income comparisons over time.  However, evidence suggests that the income voting gap has remained largely unchanged since the early 1970’s.

By Education

By Age

By Ethnicity

Voting gaps by ethnicity can be largely accounted for by other factors such as age, income, education, mobility or length of time as a U.S. citizen.

By Mobility – Years Living in the Same Place

While lower profile, the disparity in participation between mobile and non-mobile voters has a significant impact on the American democracy's capacity to encourage voting and civic participation, especially among youth.

Election Practices

Election Day Registration Participation Gap

Political scientists have estimated that 3-6% more voters could successfully participate if a state allows them to register or fix a registration problem on Election Day.

Swing State Participation Gap

Battleground or swing states tend to have higher turnout in a presidential election.  This tendency results, in large part, from much higher levels of mobilization activity and financing by campaigns in contested states.
 

Voter Contact Gap

Data reported by the American National Election Studies and others reflect voter contact gaps that parallel voter participation gaps.

The charts suggest that when mobilization efforts rely only on door knocking or phone calls,  many people are missed... and who is missed varies by income, age and ethnicity.  This gap may widen even further in an increasingly mobile and cell phone oriented world.

Data suggests a growing value in reaching certain voting populations through newer methods, such as social networking, community agencies, schools, workplaces or in settings outside the home.

Background

Large gaps in voter participation today mirror income and social disparities.  Gaps in voter participation also track differences in civic engagement of all kinds from contacting elected officials to participation in community affairs.

Who votes and who doesn’t vote impacts who elected officials pay attention to, the course of public policy and the quality of American democracy.  It also impacts civic participation of all kinds.  People who don’t vote are less likely to self-identify as stakeholders in their communities.  They are less likely to volunteer, contact their elected officials or participate in public life.  Frequent voters, on the other hand, are more likely to engage in community affairs, serve on boards and commissions and even enter public service themselves.

Are these gaps unchangeable?  No.  Many advanced democracies have considerably smaller differences in voting by levels of income or education.

When looking at voter turnout gaps by demographics such as income, education, and ethnicity, there are two important factors to consider: 

• Turnout gaps by income and education relate to multiple factors.

One such factor is a greater overall cynicism about politics in American society.  Another is a sense of powerlessness among lower-income voters, who may feel that politics is for those wealthy individuals who can influence elections through large campaign contributions (or even finance their own campaigns for office).

Gaps in participation also reflect election practices that disproportionately impact lower-income populations.  These practices can be as specific as statewide criminal disenfranchisement laws, or as general as the often-high financial and educational “cost” of voting.  For example, less-resourced Americans move more and have less permanent addresses. As a result, they will encounter more problems with maintaining their voter registration or using increasingly popular mail-in ballots.  A low income may inhibit a voter's ability to acquire transportation to the polls, and often decreases a voters's workday flexibility on Election Day.  As these populations are subject to fewer appeals from candidates and campaigns, who prefer to focus their limited resources only on likely voters, these factors continually reinforce themselves.

• Turnout gaps by ethnicity tend to reflect income, age and education gaps.

Turnout gaps by ethnicity are largely due to differences in income, educational attainment and age.  When these factors are equal within a voting group, gaps between white and black voters start to disappear.  The voting rates of Latino and Asian-American populations (to a lesser but still significant extent) also approach equality along racial lines when income, age, and education gaps are erased.

This section also highlights other kinds of voting gaps based on election practices and on contact by voter mobilization efforts.  For example, there is large participation gap between those states that have Election Day registration and those that don't.  Similarly there is a large gap between those who are successfully contacted about voting and those who aren’t, both inside and outside of campaign years.  

Though not necessarily quickly –depending on mobilization, election reform and the cyclical way voter participation builds on itself. (“consuetitude”).

For More Information

• U.S. Census
• Other sites listed on the General Turnout and Voting Trends pages.