Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-9q27g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-24T19:44:52.589Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

If You Mobilize Them, They Will Become Informed: Experimental Evidence that Information Acquisition Is Endogenous to Costs and Incentives to Participate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2016

Victoria Anne Shineman
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Because non-voters are less politically informed than voters, some propose that increasing voter turnout would reduce the quality of information among the active voting population, damaging electoral outcomes. However, the proposed tradeoff between increased participation and informed participation is a false dichotomy. This article demonstrates that political information is endogenous to participation. A field experiment integrates an intensive mobilization treatment into a panel survey conducted before and after a city-wide election. Subjects who were mobilized to vote also became more informed about the content of the election. The results suggest institutions that encourage participation not only increase voter turnout – mobilizing electoral participation also motivates citizens to become more politically informed.

Keywords

voter turnoutfield experimentmobilizationpolitical sophisticationcompulsory votingmandatory voting.
Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , January 2018 , pp. 189 - 211
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh (email: shineman@pitt.edu). Support for this research was provided by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (Award #1065771) as well as from grants received from the Rita Mae Kelly Endowment Fellowship, the New York University Center for Experimental Social Science, and the Wilf Family Department of Politics at New York University. No funds from the National Science Foundation were used to pay for monetary incentives for participation. The author wishes to thank Neal Beck, David Brockington, Eric Dickson, Patrick Egan, Bob Erikson, Michael Goodhart, Sandy Gordon, Jon Hurwitz, Kris Kanthak, George Krause, Michael Laver, Gianmarco León, Aniol Llorente-Saguer, Peter Loewen, Henry Milner, Rebecca Morton, Jonathan Nagler, Hans Noel, Costas Panagopoulos, Betsy Sinclair, Carolyn Tolbert, Joshua Tucker, Jon Woon, and several anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments at various stages of development. She is also grateful for comments received during workshops at Columbia University, New York University, the University of Notre Dame, and Princeton University. Data replication sets available at https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/BJPolS and online appendices at http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1017/S0007123416000168.

References

LIST OF REFERENCES

Anderson, Christopher, and LoTempio, Andrew. 2002. Winning, Losing and Political Trust in America. British Journal of Political Science 32:335–351.Google Scholar
Arceneaux, Kevin, and David, Nickerson. 2009. Who is Mobilized to Vote? A Re‐Analysis of 11 Field Experiments. American Journal of Political Science 53 (1):1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 2009. Economic Inequality and Political Representation. Pp. 167–196 in Lawrence Jacobs and Desmond King, eds, The Unsustainable American State. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bedolla, Lisa García, and Michelson, Melissa R.. 2012. Mobilizing Inclusion: Transforming the Electorate through Get-Out-the-Vote Campaigns. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Bilodeau, Antoine, and André, Blais. 2005. Le vote obligatoire a-t-il un effet de socialisation politique? Presented to Colloque int. vote obligatoire, Inst. d’Etudes Polit, Lille, October.Google Scholar
Birch, Sarah. 2009. Full Participation: A Comparative Study of Compulsory Voting. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Brady, Henry E., Verba, Sidney, and Schlozman, Kay Lehman. 1995. Beyond SES: A Resource Model of Political Participation. American Political Science Review 89 (2):271–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Citrin, Jack, Schickler, Eric, and Sides, John. 2003. What if Everyone Voted? Simulating the Impact of Increased Turnout in Senate Elections. American Journal of Political Science 47 (1):75–90.Google Scholar
Clarke, Harold D., and Acock, Alan C.. 1989. National Elections and Political Attitudes: The Case of Political Efficacy. British Journal of Political Science 19 (4):551–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J. 2002. Procedure and Substance in Deliberative Democracy. Pp. 407–437 in Philosophy and Democracy, edited by Thomas Christiano. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
De Condorcet, Nicolas. 1785. Éssai sur l'application de l'analyse à la probabilité des décisions rendues à la pluralité des voix. Paris. [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014].Google Scholar
Finkel, Steven E. 1985. Reciprocal Effects of Participation and Political Efficacy: A Panel Analysis. American Journal of Political Science 29 (4):891–913.Google Scholar
Finkel, Steven E. 1987. The Effects of Participation on Political Efficacy and Political Support: Evidence from a West German Panel. Journal of Politics 49 (2):441–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gastil, John, Deess, E. Pierre, Weiser, Phil, and Meade, Jordan. 2008. Jury Service and Electoral Participation: A Test of the Participation Hypothesis. Journal of Politics 70 (2):351–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerber, Alan S., Green, Donald P., and Larimer, Christopher W.. 2008. Social Pressure and Vote Turnout: Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Experiment. American Political Science Review 102 (1):33–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gneezy, Uri, and Rustichini, Aldo. 2000. A Fine is a Price. Journal of Legal Studies 29:1–17.Google Scholar
Gordon, S., and G, Segura. 1997. Cross-National Variation in the Political Sophistication of Individuals: Capability or Choice? Journal of Politics 59 (1):126–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, Donald P., and Shachar, Ron. 2000. Habit Formation and Political Behaviour: Evidence of Consuetude in Voter Turnout. British Journal of Political Science 30 (4):561–573.Google Scholar
Griffin, John D., and Newman, Brian. 2005. Are Voters Better Represented? Journal of Politics 67 (4):1206–1227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasen, Richard L. 2000. Vote Buying. California Law Review 88:1323–1371.Google Scholar
Hooghe, Marc, and Pelleriaux, K.. 1998. Compulsory Voting and Belgium: An Application of the Lijphart Thesis. Electoral Studies 17 (4):419–424.Google Scholar
Huber, John, and Inglehart, Ronald. 1995. Expert Interpretations of Party Space and Party Locations in 42 Societies. Party Politics 1 (1):73–111.Google Scholar
Jakee, Keith, and Sun, Guang-Zhen. 2006. Is Compulsory Voting More Democratic? Public Choice 129 (1):61–75.Google Scholar
Kahneman, Daniel, and Tversky, Amos. 1979. Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk. Econometrica 4 (2):263–291.Google Scholar
Larcinese, Valentino. 2009. Information Acquisition, Ideology and Turnout: Theory and Evidence from Britain. Journal of Theoretical Politics 21 (2):237–276.Google Scholar
Lassen, David Dreyer. 2005. The Effect of Information on Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Natural Experiment. American Journal of Political Science 49 (1):103–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laver, Michael, and W, Ben Hunt. 1992. Policy and Party Competition. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Leighley, Jan E., and Nagler, Jonathan. 1992. Socioeconomic Class Bias in Turnout, 1964–1988: The Voters Remain the Same. American Political Science Review 86:725–736.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lijphart, Arend. 1997. Unequal Participation: Democracy’s Unresolved Dilemma. American Political Science Review 91 (1):1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loewen, Peter J., Milner, Henry, and Hicks, Bruce. 2008. Does Compulsory Voting Lead to More Informed and Engaged Citizens? An Experimental Test. Canadian Journal of Political Science 41 (3):655–672.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madsen, Douglas. 1987. Political Self-Efficacy Tested. American Political Science Review 81 (2):571–581.Google Scholar
Mann, Christopher B. 2010. Is There Backlash to Social Pressure? A Large-Scale Field Experiment on Voter Mobilization. Political Behavior 32 (3):387–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mill, John Stuart. 1991[1861]. Considerations on Representative Government. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.Google Scholar
Nadeau, Richard, and Blais, André. 1993. Accepting the Election Outcome: The Effect of Participation on Losers’ Consent. British Journal of Political Science 23:553–563.Google Scholar
Nichter, Simeon. 2008. Vote Buying or Turnout Buying? Machine Politics and the Secret Ballot. American Political Science Review 102 (1):19–31.Google Scholar
Palfrey, Thomas R., and Poole, Keith T.. 1987. The Relationship between Information, Ideology, and Voting Behavior. American Journal of Political Science 31 (3):511–530.Google Scholar
Panagopoulos, Costas. 2013. Extrinsic Rewards, Intrinsic Motivation and Voting. Journal of Politics 75 (1):266–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pateman, Carole. 1970. Participation and Democratic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pocock, Stuart J., Assmann, Susan E., Enos, Laura E., and Kasten, Linda E.. 2002. Subgroup Analysis, Covariate Adjustment and Baseline Comparisons in Clinical Trial Reporting: Current Practice and Problems. Statistics in Medicine 21 (19):2917–2930.Google Scholar
Prior, Markus. 2007. Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media Choice Increases Inequality in Political Involvement and Polarizes Elections. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rosema, Martin. 2007. Low Turnout: Threat to Democracy or Blessing in Disguise? Consequences of Citizens’ Varying Tendencies to Vote. Electoral Studies 26 (3):612–623.Google Scholar
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1947[1762]. The Social Contract, translated by Charles Frankel. New York: Hafner.Google Scholar
Saunders, Ben. 2010. Increasing Turnout: A Compelling Case? Politics 30 (1):70–77.Google Scholar
Schlozman, Kay Lehman, Verba, Sidney, and Brady, Henry E.. 1999. Civic Participation and the Equality Problem. Pp. 427–459 in Skocpol, Theda, and Morris P. Fiorina, eds, Civic Engagement in American Democracy. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Schuessler, Alexander A. 2000. Expressive Voting. Rationality and Society 12:87–119.Google Scholar
Selb, P., and R., Lachat 2009. The More, the Better? Counterfactual Evidence on the Effect of Compulsory Voting on the Consistency of Party Choice. European Journal of Political Research 48:573–597.Google Scholar
Shineman, Victoria. 2010. Compulsory Voting as Compulsory Balloting: How Mandatory Balloting Laws Increase Informed Voting without Increasing Uninformed Voting. Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.Google Scholar
Shineman, Victoria. 2012. Isolating the Effect of Compulsory Voting Laws on Political Sophistication: Exploiting Intra-National Variation in Mandatory Voting Laws between the Austrian Provinces. Available online from the Social Science Research Network, SSRN 2147871.Google Scholar
Sniderman, P. M., R. A., Brody, and P. E., Tetlock 1991. Reasoning and Choice: Explorations in Social Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Valentino, Nicholas A., Gregorowicz, Krysha, and Groenendyk, Eric W.. 2009. Efficacy, Emotions and the Habit of Participation. Political Behavior 31 (3):307–330.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, and Nie, Norman H.. 1972. Participation in America: Social Equality and Political Democracy. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Will, George F. 1991. Voting blocks, Washington Post, 5 September, p. A21.Google Scholar
Wolfinger, R. E., and S. J., Rosenstone 1980. Who Votes? New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Shineman Dataset

Dataset

http://dx.doi.org/10.7910/DVN/HRDQAJ
Link
Supplementary material: PDF

Shineman supplementary material

Appendix

Download Shineman supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 11.6 MB