Disability in the American Political System

• In Event: Engagement and Participation in US Health Politics

Abstract

Within the disability politics literature, an abundance of empirical evidence finds that having a disability significantly decreases an individual's propensity of voting. Due to widespread reliance on employment-based measures of disability status, however, extant research has not clearly demonstrated the ways in which various types of disabilities impact political outcomes. The present paper approaches this voting gap and the mechanisms underlying it by using novel data from the 2019 American National Election Pilot Study. In particular, we analyze the relationship between various forms of political participation and mobility-related disabilities, vision-related disabilities, hearing-related disabilities, and cognitive-related disabilities. We also explore how these specific disabilities relate to partisanship, political interest, political knowledge, and perceptions of government. Initial models reveal that disability status has a multifaceted relationship with politics and that prior, binary measures of disability lack inferential nuance. We place our results in the broader context of American political behavior, providing suggestions for greater political incorporation of Americans with disabilities.

Authors

• April A. Johnson, Kennesaw State University

• Sierra Powell, Mount San Antonio College