Partner Politics: How Partners are Relevant to Non-voting

• In Event: Family and Political Behavior

Abstract

We study how a person’s partner is relevant to non-voting as findings of previous research are inconclusive. We argue that one reason for this inconclusiveness is that partners may influence non-voting in different ways. We contend research should consider whether the relationship is educationally heterogamous or homogamous, in addition to considering a partner’s characteristics. Accordingly, we disentangle three mechanisms through which partner characteristics relate to non-voting. Furthermore, we hypothesize that these mechanisms are gendered. Our analyses of data from the European Social Survey (n = 23,395) indicate that, in addition to the partner’s educational level, the relative position of a person in a heterogamous relationship is related to non-voting among both men and women. That is, people who are less educated than their partner are more likely to abstain from voting, probably due to a lower sense of entitlement. This study improves our understanding of non-voting and underlines the importance of relative educational level for political participation.

Authors

• Stijn Daenekindt

• Willem de Koster, Erasmus University Rotterdam

• Jeroen van der Waal, Erasmus University Rotterdam