Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- INTRODUCTION
- PART I DESIGNING EXPERIMENTS
- PART II THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPERIMENTS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE
- PART III DECISION MAKING
- PART IV VOTE CHOICE, CANDIDATE EVALUATIONS, AND TURNOUT
- 13 Candidate Impressions and Evaluations
- 14 Media and Politics
- 15 Candidate Advertisements
- 16 Voter Mobilization
- PART V INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS
- PART VI IDENTITY, ETHNICITY, AND POLITICS
- PART VII INSTITUTIONS AND BEHAVIOR
- PART VIII ELITE BARGAINING
- PART IX ADVANCED EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
- AFTERWORD
- Name Index
- Subject Index
- References
16 - Voter Mobilization
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- INTRODUCTION
- PART I DESIGNING EXPERIMENTS
- PART II THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPERIMENTS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE
- PART III DECISION MAKING
- PART IV VOTE CHOICE, CANDIDATE EVALUATIONS, AND TURNOUT
- 13 Candidate Impressions and Evaluations
- 14 Media and Politics
- 15 Candidate Advertisements
- 16 Voter Mobilization
- PART V INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS
- PART VI IDENTITY, ETHNICITY, AND POLITICS
- PART VII INSTITUTIONS AND BEHAVIOR
- PART VIII ELITE BARGAINING
- PART IX ADVANCED EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
- AFTERWORD
- Name Index
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
Civic participation is an essential component of a healthy democracy. Voting allows citizens to communicate preferences to elected officials and influence who holds public office. At the same time, deficiencies and asymmetries of participation in the United States call into question the representativeness of elected officials and public policies. Yet, although political activity is crucial for the equal protection of interests, participation is often seen by individuals as irrational or excessively costly, and it is well known that turnout in the United States lags well behind that of other democracies. Scholars have consistently found that participation is linked to socioeconomic variables, psychological orientations, and recruitment. Candidates, parties, and organizations thus spend considerable effort mobilizing electoral activity. This chapter highlights contributions made by field experiments to the study of voter mobilization, the problems faced by such work, and opportunities for future study.
Observational Studies
Nonexperimental studies have primarily relied on survey research to demonstrate correlations between self-reported mobilization and civic-minded behaviors, while also controlling for demographic characteristics (e.g., age, education, income) that are known to be significant predictors of turnout. The conclusion usually reached is that mobilization efforts are generally effective (e.g., Rosenstone and Hansen 1993; Verba, Schlozman, and Brady 1995). However, four major empirical hurdles render this conclusion suspect.
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- Information
- Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science , pp. 228 - 240Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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