Voting Participation

Abstract

It is generally assumed that about two-thirds of the American electorate vote in a presidential-year election. This is the figure that is used in the standard American government textbooks, in most specialized studies, and by public officials.' It is calculated by dividing the civilian voting-age population into the total number of votes cast for President and increasing the result arbitrarily by several percentage points to account for persons of voting age who are legally excluded from the electorate. Research for the present article suggests that the two-thirds figure is too low. In 1960, at least, probably between 80 and 85 per cent of persons who were legally and physically able to vote did so. This suggests that much of the discussion about apathetic, uninterested, lazy, and alienated voters rests on false information. It also indicates that some of the unfavorable com- parisons made with voting participation in other countries may not be valid.