Analyze the voter participation table below. What has been the long-term trend, and how can it be explained?

Question

Voter Participation in U.S. Presidential Elections

Year %
1876 81.8
1896 79.3
1916 61.6
1936 61.0
1956 60.6
1976 53.5
1996 48.8

Answer 1

War and conflict drove people away.

Answer 2

I would be interested to see the presidential election stats for the in between years. Interesting that using a 20-yr period denotes that participation is almost cut in half in 120 years. One can only make wild guesses as to why this has occurred without knowing the entire trend and the histories of each election

Answer 3

Number one: Dissatisfied voters
Number two: Bad Candidates
Number three: Electoral College
Number four: Partisan States

Voters feel more and more like what they say doesn't count, so why bother going to vote? Also, with elections in large part taking place during the workday and people either having to go on their lunch break or after work, long lines and ancient machines can make someone intending to vote just turn around and walk away.

Answer 4

Voters are unhappy with the candidates on the ballot. Don't forget that third parties have to deal with ballot access, media coverage and gerrymandered districts. In those Congressional districts where the incumbent runs unopposed or against a third party, maybe that's where the voters would usually vote but since many states have straight-ticket voting, this doesn't help. Sure, we saw the highest number of people vote in 04 but proportionally, it was one of the lowest ever. Who knows how those that don't vote would vote if there were more options!!

Answer 5

Wow... it looks like the numbers are getting smaller. Wouldn't that mean less people are voting?