Who Are Nonvoters? Profiles from the 1990 Senate Elections

Abstract

This study offers the first exploration of types of nonvoters. Heretofore, researchers have analyzed factors that distinguish voters from nonvoters, but they have not studied factors that reveal distinctions among nonvoters. Scholars view nonvoters as a large monolith, assuming that they respond (or fail to respond) to politics in the same way. This paper develops a campaign attention model of nonvoting that proposes that variations in individuals' attention to campaigns create different conditions for nonvoting. In addition, demographic characteristics, general political interest, and the electoral context heighten or lessen these conditions. Together these elements help identify profiles or types of nonvoters. A cluster analysis finds five distinct types of nonvoters in the 1990 midterm Senate elections: politically ignorant nonvoters (those who are uninformed about the campaign), indifferent nonvoters (those who see no difference between the candidates), selectively aware nonvoters (those who are aware of only one candidate), dissatisfied nonvoters (those who dislike one or both candidates), and the conditionally inactive (those who do not participate because they are unemployed).