Class-Biased Electoral Participation: The Youth Vote in Chile
- 1 January 2013
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Latin American Politics and Society
- Vol. 55 (3), 47-68
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-2456.2013.00202.x
Abstract
There is no other country where the division between the old and young electorate is as striking as in Chile. For older voters, turnout exceeded, on average, 90 percent in 2009; for those aged less than 30, it fell below 30 percent. Using individual survey data from 2006, 2008, and 2010, this article studies the current socioeconomic composition of the Chilean young electorate. First, it shows that the young electorate is class-biased. Income is highly correlated with both registration and turnout even after controlling for education. Second, it presents evidence that class bias for the whole electorate has been increasing over time, due to generational replacement. The results are not promising for Chile’s democracy in the years to come, since equal participation is worsening over time.Keywords
This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit:
- Democracy in Transition: A Micro perspective on System Change in Post-Socialist SocietiesThe Journal of Politics, 2010
- Disenchanted or Discerning: Voter Turnout in Post-Communist CountriesThe Journal of Politics, 2009
- Where Else Does Turnout Decline Come From? Education, Age, Generation and Period Effects in Three European CountriesScandinavian Political Studies, 2009
- Latin America: Eight Lessons for GovernanceJournal of Democracy, 2008
- The decline of citizen participation in electoral politics in post-authoritarian ChileDemocratization, 2006
- Accounting for the Age Gap in TurnoutActa Politica, 2004
- Election Systems and Voter Turnout: Experiments in the United StatesThe Journal of Politics, 2001
- A Tale of Two Electorates: Generational Replacement and the Decline of Voting in Presidential ElectionsThe Journal of Politics, 2000
- Popular Representation and Political Dissatisfaction in Chile's New DemocracyJournal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, 1999
- Macroeconomic Conditions and Electoral Politics in East Central EuropeAmerican Journal of Political Science, 1994