Enabling Democracy: Disability and Voter Turnout
| Autor: | Kay Fletcher Schriner, Lisa Schur, Todd G. Shields, Douglas L. Kruse |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2002 |
| Předmět: |
Economic growth
Mobilization Sociology and Political Science media_common.quotation_subject 05 social sciences 050301 education Turnout Sample (statistics) Democracy 0506 political science Politics Political science Political efficacy 050602 political science & public administration Voter turnout Demographic economics Recent onset 0503 education media_common |
| Zdroj: | Scopus-Elsevier |
| ISSN: | 1938-274X 1065-9129 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/106591290205500107 |
| Popis: | How likely are the millions of Americans with disabilities to participate in politics? What insights do their experiences provide into overall participation levels and determinants? This article reports the results of a nationally representative household telephone survey of 1,240 peoplestratified to include 700 people with disabilities-following the November 1998 elections. Voter turnout is found to be 20 percentage points lower among people with disabilities than among people without disabilities who have otherwise-similar demographic characteristics. Other standard predictors of turnout such as political efficacy and mobilization explain only a small portion of this gap. There is great variation within the disability sample: the lower turnout is concentrated among people with disabilities who are not employed or who are age 65 or older, who have had recent onset of a disabling condition, and who have difficulty going outside alone (despite the availability of absentee ballots). The findings suggest that disability, apart from imposing resource constraints, often has social and psychological effects that decrease voter turnout through decreased social capital and identification with mainstream society, particularly among senior citizens. The findings also support the idea that general mobility and major life transitions can be important influences on voter turnout in general, and raise questions on the causal relations among age, employment, efficacy, and voter turnout that should be a focus of future research. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|