Have library access?
IP:34.239.153.44
  • Journals

U.S. Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections: Is It in Decline?

美國總統大選投票率:逐漸下降?

Abstracts


The United States is the world's most prominent and influential democracy. It has the world's largest nominal GDP by a wide margin, it's one of the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council (an institution which it helped create), and its businesses have access to almost every corner of the globe. Underpinning this success are America's democratic institutions. If those start to fail, the whole world will feel it. Many worry that America's democracy is declining or weakening. Those who hold this view point to various threats to America's democratic institutions: corruption, political polarization, the decline of "civilized" debate, and even voter suppression. One trend that is connected to all of these threats is voter turnout. Since 1896, voter turnout in presidential elections appears to have made a generally steady decline. This study compared voting habits of the past to those of today in order to ascertain (1) whether the decline is real and (2) the factors that may be at the root of this decline. Although the data available was far from perfect, it revealed that the decline in voter turnout in presidential elections is real, but may be in the middle of an upswing. This study also identified four key factors that have influenced voter turnout over the last 150 years. One of those key factors is the public's attitude toward government and politics, which has turned very negative over the last couple of decades. This explains a lot about the current state of highly polarized politics in the U.S.

Parallel abstracts


美國在世界上是最突出的,有影響的民主國家。它的國內生產總值是世界上最大的。它是聯合國安全理事會常任理事國之一。它的商業影響全世界每個角落。美國的民主制度造就這個成功。如果美國民主制度開始失敗了,全世界將被影響。許多人擔心美國的民主制度正在衰落或削弱。美國民主制度受到的威脅包括:腐敗、政治兩極化、理性辯論減少以及壓制選民。以上各項威脅的共同關聯是投票率趨勢。自從1896年到現在,總統選舉的投票率持續穩定地降低。這項研究是為了確定(1)總統選舉投票率降低趨勢是否真實(2)影響總統選舉投票率的因素。雖然可取得的研究資料不理想,但研究結果顯示總統選舉投票率降低趨勢是真實的。這項研究還確定了最近150年,影響美國總統選舉投票率的四個關鍵因素。關鍵因素之一是社會大眾對政府和政治的態度。最近二十年社會大眾對政府和政治的態度轉變為負面消極。這個因素說明了美國高度兩極化的政治現況。

Parallel keywords

投票率 政治兩極化 壓制選民 民主

References


Ang, D. (2019). Do 40-Year-Old Facts Still Matter? Long-Run Effects of Federal Oversight under the Voting Rights Act. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics(11), 1-53.
Avlon, J. P. (2008, October 20). What Independent Voters Want. The Wall Street Journal, p. A17.
Budiman, A. (2020, 10 21). Key facts about Black eligible voters in 2020 battleground states. Retrieved 11 23, 2020, from pewresearch.org: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/21/key-facts-about-black-eligible-voters-in-2020-battleground-states/
Budiman, A. N.-B. (2020, February 26). Naturalized Citizens Make up Record One-in-Ten U.S. Eligible Voters in 2020. Retrieved from pewresearch.org: https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2020/02/26/naturalized-citizens-make-up-record-one-in-ten-u-s-eligible-voters-in-2020/
Dann, C. (2019, 8 25). 'A deep and boiling anger:' NBC/WSJ poll finds a pessimistic America despite current economic satisfaction. Retrieved from nbcnews.com: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/deep-boiling-anger-nbc-wsj-poll-finds-pessimistic-america-despite-n1045916

Read-around