Native American Voter Turnout

• In Event: Fostering Voter Turnout

Abstract

This paper investigates the factors influencing general election voter turnout among the Native American population. Scholars can provide many predictors of voter turnout among the American public, but studies also show that other variables may influence turnout among minority communities. The political behavior of Native Americans is both understudied and affected by a number of unique barriers (and incentives) for political participation. Survey data are difficult to collect as the population of Native Americans comprises about two percent of the total U.S. population, producing traditional sampling that offer too few responses. However, the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey Voting and Registration Supplement allows a detailed analysis of this important group for every federal election since 1964. Turnout among Native Americans was lower in the earlier decades of CPS survey data, but in recent elections turnout approximates that of the general population. The CPS also gives opportunities to investigates the residence of respondents, allowing measurement of whether a respondent lived on a reservation or other tribal area, and more recent years may offer opportunities to investigate tribal affiliation of survey respondents (currently in progress). Census definitions of Native American ethnicity, however, vary across these surveys. This research compares turnout of Native Americans across national elections to other minority groups and to the original population.

Authors

• James W. Endersby, University of Missouri, Columbia

• Nicholas Brothers

• Joseph Patrick Harrison, University of Missouri