What Affects Voter Turnout
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6233224 |
|---|---|
| Authors | André Blais (0000-0003-4292-110X, Université de Montréal, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 111-125 |
| Publication date | 2006-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annual Review of Political Science (BOOK_SERIES) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1094-2939 • E-ISSN: 1545-1577 |
| Publisher | Annual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1146/annurev.polisci.9.070204.105121 |
| OpenAlex | W2112987370 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 361 |
| References cited | 36 |
Why is turnout higher in some countries and/or in some elections than in others? Why does it increase or decrease over time? To address these questions, I start with the pioneer studies of Powell and Jackman and then review more recent research. This essay seeks to establish which propositions about the causes of variations in turnout are consistently supported by empirical evidence and which ones remain ambiguous. I point out some enigmas and gaps in the field and suggest directions for future research. Most of the research pertains to established democracies, but analyses of nonestablished democracies are also included here
Demographic economics · Development economics · Economics · Empirical research · Field (mathematics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · Turnout · Voter turnout · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Territorial and Electorate Size Influence
Elections and Voting
The Appearance of Corruption
Making Young Voters
E-lections
The New Party Challenge
From Postal Ballots to E-Voting
Explanations and Designs in Political Science
Fantasmas de lo escolar. ¿A quién vas a llamar
Keep the (social) distance! Turnout and risk perception during health crisis
Do water board elections matter for utility performance
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The Bright Side of Breaking Up
Voting behaviour of Crimean Tatars 2012-2018
Reevaluating Competition and Turnout in U.S. House Elections
Parents, Infants, and Voter Turnout
How Does Information About Elite Tax Evasion Affect Political Participation
The role of English language proficiency on political socialization and democracy
Political Parties in Africa
Courting Migrants
Does participation follow the same logic across different types of elections
The Effect of Newspaper Entry and Exit on Electoral Politics
Individual-level factors influencing voter turnout in the 2014 European Parliament election
District-level drivers of voter turnout
What do voters want out of elections
Estudios sobre comportamiento electoral, ¿qué explica la participación en las urnas? Un estado del arte
Voting in Māori Governance Entities
Emigration and Electoral Outcomes in Mexico
Physically Here, Mentally There? A Study of Transnational Links and Civic Engagement Among Migrants in the USA
Actors, Targets, and Guardians
The determinants of turnout in intra-party referendums
Effects of council size under a majority bonus
Neopatrimonialism, democracy, and party research
Euroskeptizismus und Wahlenthaltung
Confianza y participación política en América Latina
Party Membership among Foreign‐Born Residents
La proportionnelle a-t-elle des effets vertueux ? Une étude expérimentale
What Affects Voter Turnout? A Review Article/Meta-Analysis of Aggregate Research
Clientelist Mobilisation and Unequal Participation
Importance of Voting at the Municipal Level
Are “bad” jobs bad for democracy? Precarious work and electoral participation in Europe
From Economic Crisis to a Crisis of Representation? The Relationship Among Economic Conditions, Ideological Congruence, and Electoral Participation
Innovating electoral metrics
The blank ballot crisis
Do Leader Evaluations (De)Mobilize Voter Turnout? Lessons From Presidential Elections in the United States
Migrants' Voter Turnout in the Home Country Elections
Voting at National versus European Elections
Stand up and be counted
Preferential abstention in conjoint experiments
What is populism good for? An experimental test of mobilization effects
Elections as an Opportunity of learning Civic Education and Political Participation for teenagers
The Islamic Republic
Beer is more efficient than social media”—Political parties and strategic communication in Austrian and Swiss national elections
The boundary problem in democratic theory
Does Closeness Matter for Voter Turnout in Proportional Systems? An Examination at the Local level in Sweden
Electoral (non)alignment between resident and non-resident voters
When too many is too much
Does European economic integration affect electoral turnout and economic voting
Income, Electoral Turnout, and Partisan Voting in Taiwan
Strategic and expressive voting
The turnout myth and referendum voting in the United States
Understanding the Competing Effects of Economic Hardship and Income Inequality on Voter Turnout
Turning off the base
Corruption and Turnout in Presidential Elections
Abstain or Rebel
Assessing the Merits of Decentralization
Is the Turnout Function in Democracies and Nondemocracies Alike or Different
The Inequality Turnout Nexus
The Policy Preferences of Marginal Voters
I Think Therefore I Don’t Vote”
We don’t know who to trust’
Evaluations of the quality of the representative channel and unequal participation
Reassessing Duvergerian semi-presidentialism
The partisan consequences of turnout revisited
Electoral participation in African democracies
Life beyond the ballot box
Policies, politics or participation? Exploring the political understanding of non-voters in the 2022 North Rhine-Westphalian election
Pueblo chico, alcalde grande. Abstencionismo en las elecciones municipales de Uruguay, 2010-2020
Competing or complementary? Local and national competitiveness as explanatory factors of turnout in SMP systems
Political equality in unequal territories
The contribution of seven Annual Reviews of Regional Elections
Local autonomy and national–local turnout gap
Party primaries and turnout
Special votes and voter turnout in Israel’s 2022 elections
Voters and Candidates of the Future
Reducing Social Stratification Bias in Referendum Participation
International Migration and Turnout Bias
Institutionalizing Electoral Malpractice
Voter Turnout in Local Elections With One or No List
Do elections accelerate the Covid-19 pandemic
Institucionalización del voto exterior
Best of both worlds? Independent lists and voter turnout in local elections
Perceived constraints from European and international integration
Political trust, civic duty and voter turnout
Estimating the relationship between ethnic inequality, conflict and voter turnout in Africa using geocoded data
Elite behaviour and citizen mobilisation
The effect of teacher-student and student-student relationships on the societal involvement of students
Does prepaid postage increase voter turnout? An analysis across time and municipalities in Switzerland
Making Votes Count
Electoral Systems and Party Systems
To Vote or Not to Vote
An economic theory of democracy
Electoral Engineering
Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945
Contemporary Democracies
Generational Basis of Turnout Decline in Established Democracies
Parliamentary Election Turnout in Europe since 1990
Voter turnout dynamics in post‐Communist Europe
The Effect of Aggregate Economic Variables on Congressional Elections
Applying a Two-Step Strategy to the Analysis of Cross-National Public Opinion Data
The Debate over Electoral Systems
Where does turnout decline come from
Turnout in Electoral Democracies
Does proportional representation foster voter turnout
The calculus of voting
Voter Turnout in the Industrial Democracies during the 1980s
Toward a New Political Methodology
A Cross-National Analysis of Economic Voting
Economic Adversity and Voter Turnout
Voting May Be Habit‐Forming
Labor Organization and Electoral Participation in Industrial Democracies
The Psychological Impact of Electoral Laws
Five Years Later
Political participation and the accessibility of the ballot box
Explaining Voter Turnout in Latin America, 1980 to 2000
Neoinstitutional accounts of voter turnout
Mixed electoral systems
Beyond SES
Becoming a Habitual Voter
The Myth of the Vanishing Voter
City Size and Civic Involvement in Metropolitan America
Political Institutions and Voter Turnout in the Industrial Democracies
The Welfare State, Turnout, and the Economy
American Voter Turnout in Comparative Perspective
| Unique citing works | 361 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 19 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2026 (20) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 360 |