Inequality in the Voting Booth: Education and Correct Voting

• In Event: New Approaches to the Study of U.S. Electoral Behavior

Abstract

It has been well established that the effectiveness and quality of political representation is unequal in Western democracies. Scholars have frequently warned about the rise of “diploma democracies” in which political systems are skewed towards the interests of the higher educated. As educational inequalities are an increasingly important political stratification factor within the United States, this paper studies its political repercussions. In particular, we investigate one possible causal mechanism of this inequality: the ability of citizens to cast a ‘correct’ vote. If citizens are not able to identify in a correct manner the party or candidate that best represents their interests, electoral and political participation will not lead to full representation. On the basis of the American National Elections Study and original experimental data, where a presidential election was simulated, we provide evidence that one’s education level has important repercussions for the capacity of correct voting. Higher educated citizens were better equipped to inform themselves about politics, have more accurate levels of political knowledge, and are more likely to cast a correct vote. We conclude by arguing that education levels will remain a rather persistent determinant of political inequality. 

Authors

• Silke Goubin, KU Leuven

• Richard R. Lau, Rutgers University, New Brunswick

• Marc Hooghe, University Leuven

• Dieter Stiers, KU Leuven