Electoral Competitiveness and Turnout in British Elections, 1964–2010

Analyzing the British Election Study from 1964 to 2010, we examine the influence of electoral context on turnout, focusing on the closeness of elections in terms of lagged seat and constituency-level winning margins. Using cross-classified multilevel models to account for individual and contextual f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political science research and methods 2017-10, Vol.5 (4), p.775-794
Main Authors: Vowles, Jack, Katz, Gabriel, Stevens, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Competition
Constituents
Elections
International relations
Life cycles
Original Articles
Participation
Political behavior
Political science
Politics
Public opinion
Respondents
Time series
Voter behavior
Voter turnout
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Summary:Analyzing the British Election Study from 1964 to 2010, we examine the influence of electoral context on turnout, focusing on the closeness of elections in terms of lagged seat and constituency-level winning margins. Using cross-classified multilevel models to account for individual and contextual factors and disentangle life cycle, cohort- and election-specific effects, we find that closeness strongly affects voting behavior, particularly among new electors. Widening seat margins in British elections over the last decades have had a persistent impact on turnout. Respondents who faced less competitive environments when young are more likely to abstain in subsequent elections than those reaching voting age after close-fought races. We conclude that variations in competitiveness have had both short- and long-term effects on turnout.
ISSN:2049-8470
2049-8489
DOI:10.1017/psrm.2015.67