The Effect of Children on Voter Turnout
نویسندگان
چکیده
There has been much research in economics concerned with the factors affecting voter turnout. This research has so far ignored how the presence of children affects an individual’s propensity to vote. This paper shows that having young children decreases the likelihood of voting. Low income individuals are especially vulnerable to this increased cost of voting due to children, while higher income individuals are unaffected. The effect also varies across states and urban and rural populations. These differences seem to be driven by varying wait times at polling stations. Understanding how children affect voter turnout is important in developing policies aimed at increasing political
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