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Genetic Variation in Political Participation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2008

JAMES H. FOWLER ,
LAURA A. BAKER  and
CHRISTOPHER T. DAWES
JAMES H. FOWLER*
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
LAURA A. BAKER*
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
CHRISTOPHER T. DAWES*
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
*
James H. Fowler is Professor, Political Science Department, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive 0521, La Jolla, CA 92093-0521. (jhfowler@ucsd.edu or by Web at http://jhfowler.ucsd.edu.)
Laura A. Baker is Professor, Psychology Department, University of Southern California, 3620 South McClintock Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90089-1061.
Christopher T. Dawes is Professor, Political Science Department, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive 0521, La Jolla, CA 92093-0521.
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Abstract

The decision to vote has puzzled scholars for decades. Theoretical models predict little or no variation in participation in large population elections and empirical models have typically accounted for only a relatively small portion of individual-level variance in turnout behavior. However, these models have not considered the hypothesis that part of the variation in voting behavior can be attributed to genetic effects. Matching public voter turnout records in Los Angeles to a twin registry, we study the heritability of political behavior in monozygotic and dizygotic twins. The results show that a significant proportion of the variation in voting turnout can be accounted for by genes. We also replicate these results with data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and show that they extend to a broad class of acts of political participation. These are the first findings to suggest that humans exhibit genetic variation in their tendency to participate in political activities.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 102 , Issue 2 , May 2008 , pp. 233 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2008

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