Journal article
Policy Polarization, Income Inequality and Turnout
Political studies, Vol.69(2), pp.455-477
05/01/2021
DOI: 10.1177/0032321720906581
Abstract
Past research on the relationship between income inequality and turnout has produced mixed results, with some studies suggesting that income inequality leads to lower turnout while other studies find little or no significant effects. In this article, we investigate the extent to which these mixed results are due to the contingent nature of inequality on turnout, which depends upon the nature of the policy options that are presented to the electorate. We test these expectations on data from national elections in 30 established democracies from 1965 through 2017 covering 300 elections. Regression analysis using country-level fixed effects reveals consistent evidence in favor of our hypotheses: Inequality tends to have a negative impact on turnout, especially in depolarized party systems, but as party system polarization increases the negative impact of inequality is mitigated.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Policy Polarization, Income Inequality and Turnout
- Creators
- Matthew Polacko - Department of Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UKOliver Heath - Department of Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UKMichael S Lewis-Beck - Department of Political Science, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USARuth Dassonneville - Département de science politique, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Political studies, Vol.69(2), pp.455-477
- DOI
- 10.1177/0032321720906581
- ISSN
- 0032-3217
- eISSN
- 1467-9248
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 04/27/2020
- Date published
- 05/01/2021
- Academic Unit
- Political Science
- Record Identifier
- 9984025650602771
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