Chapter 6 Power Point U.S. Government Voter Behavior

3.  Suffrage- the right to vote
› Framers of the Constitution purposely left the
power to set suffrage qualifications to each
State.
› Amendment X- Powers reserved to the States

4.  Electorate- the potential voting
population; those able to vote
› Some 210 million Americans are qualified to
vote
› American citizen, 18 years of age
 The long road toward American suffrage
has been marked by two major trends…
1. Gradual elimination of restrictions on voting
rights
2. Transfer of power from State Governments
to the Federal Government

5. Five factors that voting restrictions have
fallen under in American history:
1. Religious belief
2. Property ownership
3. Tax payment
4. Race
5. Sex
We’ll see these
continue to effect
American votes today

6. 1. Religious qualifications quickly
disappeared by 1800.
› No State has had a religious test since 1810
 States began to eliminate property
ownership and tax payment
requirements
› By 1830-40s, nearly all white-American adult
males could vote in every State

7. 2. Following the Civil War, Federal
government amends the U.S.
Constitution to hold the 15th
Amendment
› Ratified in 1870, protected any citizen from
being denied the right to vote because of
race.

8. 3. Early 20th century- Voting rights for all
sexes
› 19th Amendment prohibited the denial of the
right to vote because of sex
› Ratified in 1920
› Executive Power- enforced by the central
government

9. 4. 1960s- Ensuring the right to vote to
African Americans in ALL States
› Passage of federal legislation and court
decisions
 23rd Amendment (1961) added the voters of
Washington D.C.
 24th Amendment (1964) eliminated the poll tax
 Voting Rights Act of 1965- civil rights act that
helped solidify racial equality in the voting
booths

10.  Most recent expansions in electorate
suffrage comes with the adoption of
› 26th Amendment- No State can set a
minimum age for voting at more than 18
years of age
› Ratified 1971

12. Every State requires that any person who
wants to vote must:
1. Have citizenship
2. Have residence
3. Be of age
 States have found ways to bypass or
bend the rules of the first 2 requirements.

13.  Aliens- foreign born residents who have not
become citizens
› Generally denied the right to vote
› HOWEVER, it is not expressed in the Constitution
 Historically, western States allowed aliens to
vote (to attract settlers)
 1926- Arkansas is the last State to illegalize
voting rights to aliens in federal elections.

14.  One must be a legal resident of the State
he/she wishes to cast their ballot
1. To keep a political machine (interest group)
from importing out-of-staters to vote in local &
State elections
2. To allow new voters some time to become
familiar with the candidates/issues of their State
 Voting Rights Act (1970)- Congress banned
any requirement of longer than 30 days for
voting in presidential elections

15.  Dunn v. Blumstein- 1972, a Supreme
Court case that found Tennessee’s
requirements were unconstitutional
› 90 day residency in country
› 1 year residency in State
 Transients- persons living in a State for
only a short time
› Out-of-State salesman, armed service
member, or college students may find it
difficult to vote while travelling

16.  30-day residency requirement
› Must live in-State for thirty days
› Live in a specific county
 30-day registration requirement
› Registration deadline is 30 days before the
upcoming election

17.  26th Amendment (1971)- declared that no
State may set a minimum age for voting in
ANY election at more than 18 years of age
 Before the 26th Amendment, the generally
accepted voting age was 21 and up
› Only four States had a set voting age of lower
than 21 before 1970.
 Georgia, Kentucky, Alaska, and Hawaii
 Vietnam War:
“Old enough to fight,
old enough to vote”

18.  Montana was the 8th state to ratify the
26th Amendment
› March 29, 1971
› Congress proposed the Amendment on
March 23, 1971
 Voting turnout in Montana is usually
always higher than the national average
General Election Montana Voting National Voter
(Year) turnout (%) Turnout (%)
2004 71.4 55.3
2008 74.5 56.8

19.  A procedure of voter identification
intended to prevent fraudulent voting.
› Every state, except North Dakota, requires voter
registration
› N.D. was one of the first States to adopt voter
registration, but abolished it in 1951because of
its small precincts

20.  Type of electoral fraud that occurs when the
name of a deceased person remains on a
state’s official list of registered voters and a
living person fraudulently casts a ballot in that
name.
 1982- Gubernatorial election in Illinois
estimated that as many as 1 in 10 ballots cast
during the election were fraudulent, including
votes by the dead.
› Same can be
said in the 1960 election

21.  Purging- State law directs local election
officials to review the lists of registered
voters and to remove those names no
longer eligible
› Usually happens every 2 to 4 years
 Poll Books- Lists of all the registered voters
in each precinct
› The “Death Master Files”

22.  A person’s ability to read or write.
› A device used to keep African Americans
from voting in parts of the South
 Used to keep Native Americans from voting in
the West and Southwest

23.  Poll Tax- the payment of a special tax, as a
condition for voting
 1889- Florida is the first of 11 Southern States
to initiate these poll taxes
› Used to discourage African Americans from
voting
› 1966- the poll tax was still used in 4 southern
states
 24th Amendment (1964)- outlawed the poll
tax, or any other tax in federal elections

25.  Gerrymandering- the practice of
drawing electoral district lines in order to
limit the voting strength of a particular
party or group.
› District lines are the boundaries of the
geographic area from which a candidate is
elected to a public office

28.  Injunction- a court order that either
forces or limits the performance of some
act by a private individual or by a public
official.

29. Democrat Convention
2008
Republican Convention
2008

30. This is an area of study that has been
researched and investigated more
thoroughly than just about any other in
Political Science.
Here are just some things you should know...

31.  The word idiot comes from the Greek
root word idiotes, meaning those citizens
who do not vote.
 Tens of millions of Americans, for one
reason or another, do not vote.

32.  General Presidential Election (2000)
› Votes cast: 51.2% of the voting populous
 General Presidential Election (2008)
› Votes cast: 56.8% of voting populous
 Off-year elections-
The congressional
elections held in the
even-numbered years
between presidential
elections

33. Turnout of
voting-age
Voting-age Voter population
Year population registration Voter turnout (percent)
2010** 235,809,266 NA 90,682,968 37.8%
2008* 231,229,580 NA 132,618,580* 56.8
2006 220,600,000 135,889,600 80,588,000 37.1
2004 221,256,931 174,800,000 122,294,978 55.3
2002 215,473,000 150,990,598 79,830,119 37.0
2000 205,815,000 156,421,311 105,586,274 51.3
1998 200,929,000 141,850,558 73,117,022 36.4
1996 196,511,000 146,211,960 96,456,345 49.1
1994 193,650,000 130,292,822 75,105,860 38.8
1992 189,529,000 133,821,178 104,405,155 55.1
1990 185,812,000 121,105,630 67,859,189 36.5
1988 182,778,000 126,379,628 91,594,693 50.1
1986 178,566,000 118,399,984 64,991,128 36.4
1984 174,466,000 124,150,614 92,652,680 53.1
1982 169,938,000 110,671,225 67,615,576 39.8
1980 164,597,000 113,043,734 86,515,221 52.6
1978 158,373,000 103,291,265 58,917,938 37.2
1976 152,309,190 105,037,986 81,555,789 53.6
1974 146,336,000 96,199,0201 55,943,834 38.2
1972 140,776,000 97,328,541 77,718,554 55.2
1970 124,498,000 82,496,7472 58,014,338 46.6
1968 120,328,186 81,658,180 73,211,875 60.8
1966 116,132,000 76,288,2833 56,188,046 48.4
1964 114,090,000 73,715,818 70,644,592 61.9
1962 112,423,000 65,393,7514 53,141,227 47.3
1960 109,159,000 64,833,0965 68,838,204 63.1

34.  The time that it takes to vote at the polls
should NOT be a significant reason for so
many nonvoters.
› “Cannot-Voters”
› Actual Nonvoters
› Inconvenient Polling

35. 1. 10 million of the 100 million potential
voters who did not vote in the 2000
election are resident aliens.
2. 5-6 million voters were said to be
physically unable to get to the polls.
3. 2-3 million voters are said to be travelling
during the general elections
4. Nearly half-million voters are in mental
health care facilities or under some kind
of legal restraint
5. 2 million potential voters are in jails and
prisons

36.  Even factoring in the “cannot-voters,” there
is still an 80 million voter gap in the U.S.
 Many people simple choose not to vote
› Many are convinced that their vote doesn’t
make a difference
› Some are content with the political world
› Others share a distrust toward politics
 Political Efficacy- One’s own influence or
effectiveness on politics

37.  Cumbersome election procedures
› Registration requirements
› Long ballots
› Lines at voting polls
 “Time-zone fallout” problem
› Polls in States in the Eastern/Central time zones
close before Mountain/Pacific time zones
› Media effect
 It usually comes down to lack of interest

39.  Information on voting behavior comes
from 3 main sources”
1. Results of Particular Elections
› A careful study of the returns by areas
populated by a single interest group
2. Field of Survey Research
› Polling of scientifically determined cross
sections of the population
3. Studies of Political Socialization
› The process by which people gain their
political attitudes and opinions

40.  There are two basic means of studying voter
behavior
1. Sociological factors
› Voter’s personal characteristics-age, race,
income, occupation, education, religion, etc.
› Voter’s group affiliation-family, co-workers,
friends, etc.
2. Psychological factors
› Voter’s perceptions of politics

41.  Written by Paul Lazarsfeld
 “Social Characteristics = Political Preference
 Activation~4 Step Process
1. Interest-make people aware
2. Exposure-people begin to learn about the
campaign
3. Selective Attention-filtering information
 Funnel of Causality
4. Crystallization-lock in their vote choice
 Reinforcement~ Used to appeal to your
partisans

43.  Income/Occupation
› Voters with higher incomes tend to be
Republicans
› Voters with lower incomes tend to be
Democrats

44.  Education
› Statistics show a strong correlation of higher
educated voters backing a Republican
candidate
› A college graduates vote for Republican in
higher % than do high school graduates
› High school graduates vote Republican in
higher % than do voters with a grade school
education

45.  Gender Gap- a measureable difference
between the partisan choices of men
and women.
› First appeared in the election of 1980
(Reagan vs. Carter)
› Women generally tend to favor Democrats
by a margin of 5-10%
› Similarly, men favor Republicans
 Men and women are more likely to vote
differently on specific issues:
› Abortion, health-care, social welfare, and
military involvement

46.  Age- traditionally, younger voters tend to
be Democrats
 Different generations will have different
political values

47.  Religious
› Catholics (Irish Immigrants) = Democrats
› North Protestants (English) = Republicans
 Ethnic Background
› Nonwhites = Democrats
 These ethnic variables conflict with
religious values much of the time

48.  Geography = sectionalism
 Post Civil Way
› Solid South belonged to the Democrats
› This is a thing of the past; the GOP now
controls much of the Southern U.S.
 Large cities/urban
communities draw
Democrats
 Suburban America =
Republicans

49.  “Enduring Attachment”
› The idea that partisanship strengthens over time
because of outside influences.
 Party Affiliation
› Social identification
› Political Parties different constituent groups
social categories identify self conception

50.  Party Identification- the loyalty of people to
a particular political party
› Partisanship strengthens over time
› Single most significant predictor for populous’
voting outcome
 Straight-ticket voting: the practice of voting
for candidates of only one party in an
election

51.  Split-ticket voting
› Voting is an inadequate measure of self-
conception
› Party identification is by no means the sole
determinant of vote preference
 Rise of the Independents
› Those people who have no party affiliation

52. Prisoner
1
Confess Quiet
Confess 20/20 10/25
Prisoner
2
Quiet 25/10 2/2