Abstract
While much attention has been paid to understanding the drivers of support for Donald Trump, less focus has been placed on understanding the factors that led individuals to turn out and vote or stay home. This paper compares non-voters and voters in the 2016 election and explores how self-reported candidate preference prior to the election predicted turnout across three different state contexts: (1) all states, (2) closely contested states won by Trump, and (3) closely contested states won by Clinton. We find that preference for both candidates predicted turnout in the aggregate (all states) and in closely contested states won by Clinton, but only preference for Trump predicted turnout in the closely contested states won by Trump. Moreover, we find that political interest is negatively associated with preference for Clinton when examining candidate preferences among non-voters. Our analysis suggests that non-voters in the 2016 election held meaningful candidate preferences that impacted voter turnout but that state context played an important role in this relationship. This study sheds light on an understudied component of the 2016 election, the attitudes and behavior of non-voters, as well as points to the importance of incorporating contextual variation in future work on electoral behavior and voter turnout.
Question wording for attitudinal measures in the 2016 ANES.
| What do you think about the state of the economy these days in the United States? Would you say the state of the economy is …? |
| Would you say that compared to 2008, the nation’s economy is now better, worse, or about the same? |
| Which of the two statements comes closer to your view? |
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| Do you [agree strongly, agree somewhat, neither agree nor disagree, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly/disagree strongly, disagree somewhat, neither agree nor disagree, agree somewhat or agree strongly] with the following statement? |
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| Do you favor, oppose, or neither favor nor oppose building a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico? |
| How much discrimination is there in the United States today against each of the following groups? |
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| How important is it that more women be elected to political office? |
| Ambivalent sexism (0–1 scale): |
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| Racial resentment (0–1 scale): |
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| Do you [agree strongly, agree somewhat, neither agree nor disagree, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly/disagree strongly, disagree somewhat, neither agree nor disagree, agree somewhat or agree strongly] with the following statement? |
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| The contact variable was created from two questions: |
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Swing state definitions (Cook Political Report).
| All swing states | Lean democrat | Lean republican |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | Colorado | Arizona |
| Maine | Michigan | Georgia |
| Nebraska | Nevada | Iowa |
| North Carolina | New Hampshire | Ohio |
| Colorado | Pennsylvania | Utah |
| Michigan | Wisconsin | |
| Nevada | ||
| New Hampshire | ||
| Pennsylvania | ||
| Wisconsin | ||
| Arizona | ||
| Georgia | ||
| Iowa | ||
| Ohio | ||
| Utah |
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© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Introduction: Volume 19 No. 2
- Did Gary Johnson and Jill Stein Cost Hillary Clinton the Presidency? A Counterfactual Analysis of Minor Party Voting in the 2016 US Presidential Election
- Candidate Preference, State Context, and Voter Turnout: Comparing Non-Voters and Voters in the 2016 Presidential Election
- Allocating Unlimited Money: What Explains Super PAC Spending in Congressional Elections?
- Divided by Identity on the Left? Partisan Spillover and Identity Politics Alignment
- Retreating from Redistribution? Trends in Democratic Party Fidelity to Economic Equality, 1984–2020
- Lethal Incompetence: Leaders, Organizations, and the U.S. Response to COVID-19
- Book Reviews
- LaFleur Stephens-Dougan: Race to the Bottom: How Racial Appeals Work in American Politics
- Rachel M. Blum: How the Tea Party Captured the GOP
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Introduction: Volume 19 No. 2
- Did Gary Johnson and Jill Stein Cost Hillary Clinton the Presidency? A Counterfactual Analysis of Minor Party Voting in the 2016 US Presidential Election
- Candidate Preference, State Context, and Voter Turnout: Comparing Non-Voters and Voters in the 2016 Presidential Election
- Allocating Unlimited Money: What Explains Super PAC Spending in Congressional Elections?
- Divided by Identity on the Left? Partisan Spillover and Identity Politics Alignment
- Retreating from Redistribution? Trends in Democratic Party Fidelity to Economic Equality, 1984–2020
- Lethal Incompetence: Leaders, Organizations, and the U.S. Response to COVID-19
- Book Reviews
- LaFleur Stephens-Dougan: Race to the Bottom: How Racial Appeals Work in American Politics
- Rachel M. Blum: How the Tea Party Captured the GOP