Voter Turnout and Electoral Oscillation

Abstract

Declining levels of participation in elections and especially presidential elections, have prompted greater interest among academics and policy makers in the sources and practical consequences of low turnout. This article shows that although nonvoters have many characteristics which mark them as Democratic voters, there is no reason to believe that high turnout elections, especially at the presidential level, would benefit Democratic candidates. The lower levels of involvement and commitment which characterize chronic nonvoters and peripheral voters would simply promote greater interelection oscillation if these voters began to turn out.