A Reassessment of Voter Mobilization

Abstract

This study reexamines influences on individual turnout. Assessing the effects of the short-term campaign environment on turnout behavior, previous schol arship has failed to account for the fact that voting in the United States is a two-stage process: the preliminary act of registration followed by the act of voting. The findings from this analysis suggest that this failure has tilted exist ing research away from discovering substantively impressive campaign influ ences. While citizen characteristics are the principal determinants of registration status, campaign factors emerge as quite important in explaining the turnout of those individuals who have surmounted the registration hurdle.