Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-2021

Publication Title

Political Behavior

Volume

43

Pages

711–735

Publisher Name

Springer

Abstract

Why does the likelihood of voting increase with education in the U.S.? Prominent theories attribute education’s effect to human capital, which affords individuals resources needed to participate, but neglect social motivations. We test a theory of internalized social norms as another contributing factor, providing evidence in three studies. First, we show that highly educated people are more likely to view voting as a civic duty, and that civic duty partially mediates the effect of education on voting. Second, we show education is associated with a higher likelihood of overreporting voting in the 2016 election. Third, we show that educated respondents are more likely to withstand stimuli incentivizing them to report they will not vote in an upcoming election. The results imply that voting norms vary by education, and invite more attention to social explanations for socioeconomic disparities in turnout

Comments

Author Posting. © Springer Science Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Political Behavior, VOL. 43, June 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-019-09571-8

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