Voters and Voter Behavior

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Voters and Voter Behavior

• Government
• Mr. Firks

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Section 1--The Constitution and the Right to Vote

• 1789 most states restricted the right to vote to
  white males who owned property. 1 in 15
• Today, any adult over 18.
• Restrictions on voting removed in five stages.

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Section 1History of Voting

• Early 1800s. Property ownership requirement
  removed by states.
• 15th Amendment (1865).
• Prohibits voting discrimination based on race.
• Southern states found many ways around the 15th
  amendment.

The First Vote
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There has been a decline of voter turnout since
1960 because of the 26th amendment lowered
voting age to 18 it expanded the electorate,
but lowered the overall turnout percentage,
because this block of young voters just dont
vote.
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Section 1History of Voting

• 19th Amendment (1920) Prohibited voting
  discrimination based on gender.
• Many states had already taken this step in state
  elections.

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History of Voting

• Civil Rights Movement and Legislation (1960s.)
• Court decisions,
• Voting Rights Act and
• 24th Amendment
• 26th Amendment
• reduced voting age to 18.

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The Power to Set Voting Qualifications

• States have the power to set voting
  qualification, but are five limitations imposed
  by the Constitution.
• Art. I, Sect. 2, Clause 1. Any person who a State
  allows to vote for members of the most numerous
  branch of its own legislature must also be
  allowed to vote for representatives and senators
  in Congress.
• Race, prior servitude or color. (15th Amendment)
• Gender (19th Amendment)
• No state can require the payment of any tax to be
  eligible to vote (24th Amendment)
• No one can deprive vote to those over 18 because
  of age (26th Amendment)

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How many times have we extended the right to vote
and to what groups?

• Voting is the type of political activity most
  often engaged in by Americans.
• The Electorate has expanded many times in
  history
• 1870- 15th amendment-black men right to vote
• 1920- 19th amendment-women
• 1924- Congress granted Native Americans
  citizenship and vote
• 1964- 24th amendment prohibited use of poll tax
• 1965- Voting Rights Act of 1995-removed
  restrictions that kept blacks from voting.
• 1971-26th amendment, 18 year old vote

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Section 2--Voter Qualification Among The States

• Citizenship
• Does Const. prohibit non-citizens from voting?
• No, but all states prohibit them from voting.
• Residency
• Most states require that a person live within the
  state for at least some period of time.
• 1970 Voting rights act says that 30 days is limit
  for Pres. elections

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Section 2--Voter Qualification Among The States

• Residency, cont.
• Const. Equal Protection Clause limits the length
  of time that a state can require one to live in
  state
• 30 days is reasonable for state elections, and 90
  days is too long (Dunn v. Blumstein)
• About half the states require 30 days. In the
  rest it is shorter.
• Reason for residency requirement?
• Definition of Residency
• Age
• Can states reduce age below 18?

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Voter Qualification Among The StatesRegistration

• Every state but ND requires that voters be
  registered.
• Purpose?
• Name, address, age, length of residence. Also an
  opportunity to register a party affiliation.
• Usually 15-30 days before an election. Cant be
  longer than 30 days.
• Stay registered unless move, die or are convicted
  of a felony.

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Motor Voter Law

• 1993, National Voter Registration Act (Motor
  Voter Bill)
• States must offer voter registration to anyone
  renewing vehicle registration or license.
• Forms must be available in all public government
  offices.
• states must offer registration by mail.
• Purpose of the Law
• Does not appear to have benefited either party
• No appreciable increase in voter turnout.

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Other Voting Restrictions

• Literacy Tests
• Prohibited under the Voting Rights Act of 1970.
  Upheld by Supreme Court.
• Before banned, 18 states had them.
• Tax Payment
• Poll tax prohibited by the 24th Amendment in all
  federal elections.
• Supreme Court eliminated in all state election.
• Those Prohibited In most states
• those in mental institutions,
• convicted felons
• incompetent
• dishonorably discharged.

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Section 4 Voter Behavior

• In 2004 only 55 percent of those eligible to vote
  actually did so. And the numbers go down for
  Congressional elections (50), and down further
  for state elections
• Voter fatigue
• Non-Voting Voters - Ballot Fatigue

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Why is Voter Turnout so Low?

• 85 million eligible Americans fail to vote in
  presidential elections why?
• People are lazy, they are apathetic, and voter
  registration appears to be the major block to
  voting.

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Why is Voter Turnout so Low?

• Others say, there is not a candidate who is
  appealing.
• Candidates themselves are not real choices.
• They are not exciting, and they avoid taking
  stands on issues.

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Section 4 Voter Behavior Why People Do Not
Vote

• Cannot Voters 20
• Actual Non-voters
• Some are happy with either choice
• Some not believe in their own political efficacy
• Inconvenience of the registration process
• Biggest reason?

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Section 4 Voter BehaviorFactors Effecting
Turnout

• Those more likely to vote are
• higher income
• more education
• higher occupational status
• integrated into their communities
• longer-term residents
• stronger sense of party
• Those less likely to vote are
• younger than 35
• unmarried
• unskilled
• from the south
• rural

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Who Votes?

• What kinds of things help us to predict who
  will/does vote?
• Level of education helps predict whether people
  will vote, as education increases, so does the
  propensity to vote.
• Race and ethnicity are also linked to voting in
  large part because they are correlated to
  education.

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Who Votes?

• Income and age are also important.
• Those with higher income vote more.
• 18-24 year olds vote the least
• People over 70 also have low voter turnout.

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Voting and Age
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Section 4 Voter BehaviorFactors Effecting How
Vote

• Income-Occupation
• Voters in the middle to upper incomes tend to be
  
• Republican. More conservative.
• Voters with lower incomes tend to be
• Democrats
• Professional and business people tend to be
• Republican
• Those who are manual labors or in unions tend to
  be
• Democrats

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Section 4 Voter Behavior Factors Effecting How
Vote

• Education
• More education one has, the more likely to vote
  republican.
• Why?
• Gender
• Since 1980, women tend to vote more democratic
  and men more republican. Gender Gap.
• Why?
• Age
• How does Age affect voting choice?
• Younger voters tend to be more democratic, older
  more republican.
• This is part of a larger phenomenapeople get
  more conservative as they get older.

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Section 4 Voter Behavior Religious, Ethnic
Background

• Northern Protestants tend to be
• Republican.
• Bush won 59 of Protestants and 67 of white
  Protestants.
• Catholics and Jews are much more likely to be
• Democrats
• Bush 52 of Catholics and 25 of Jews.
• Non-whites are much more likely to be
• Democrats.
• Blacks vote in overwhelming majorities for the
  democrats.
• Partly because average income is lower. Partly
  because Democrats have led more on Civil Rights
  issues.
• Getting Blacks to vote is often a key to
  Democratic success.

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Section 4 Voter BehaviorGeography

• Where one lives effects voter behavior.
• Solid South. After Civil War and until 1980s,
  south was solidly Democratic, but no longer. Now
  is solidly Republican on national level.

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Geography

• Kansas, Nebraska, Dakotas, Vermont and Maine very
  consistently
• Rep.
• Big cities tend to be
• more Democratic
• Suburbs tend toward
• Republican.
• East Coast and West Coast
• Democratic.
• Small cities and rural areas tend to be
• Rep.

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Geography and Voting Behavior
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Section 4 Voter Behavior Family

• Family and other affiliations
• 90 of spouses have similar ideological
  affiliations
• 2/3 vote the way their parents do

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Psychological Factors That Affect Voter Choice

• Party Identification Ones loyalty to a
  particular party.
• Best predictor of voter behavior
• Straight-ticket votingProcess of voting for all
  candidates of a particular party or voting for a
  candidate simply because he is of your party.

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Psychological Factors Independents

• Those without a party affiliation.
• Party loyalty has weakened over the past 30
  years.
• More split-ticket voting.
• Quarter to a third of the electorate consider
  themselves independents.
• Most independents less informed less interested
  and less likely to vote.
• New Independents. Emerged in 1960s and 1970s.
  More informed and better educated. Often young
  professionals.
• Avoid party label, but act just like party
  members when they vote.

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Psychological Factors Candidates and Issues

• Short-term factors can cause people to vote
  against their party affiliation.
• Personality of the candidate
• Candidate too extreme
• Who the incumbent is
• Sense that a change is needed
• National crisis

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Presidential Vote by Party.

• Source Data obtained from CQ Voting and
  Elections Collections, at library.cqpress.com/elec
  tions/.

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Affiliation by Demographic