How Do College Students Decide Where to Vote?

• In Event: Emerging Scholars Lightning Round: Graduate Student Research: Contemporary Issues in US Politics: Identities, Technology, and Economic Policy

Abstract

Scholars have long been concerned with low levels of voter turnout among young adults. Even with increases in turnout rates in recent years, people ages 18-29 vote at rates far lower than older cohorts, and the age gap in turnout in the U.S. is one of the worst compared to other democracies. This is true even when exploring who should otherwise be more participatory: those obtaining a college education. Surprisingly, little work explores how those in college make voting decisions, even though those decisions can have large downstream consequences via habitual participation. A particularly intriguing group includes students who attend college outside of their hometown as these potential voters possess the unique opportunity to choose where they want to vote. Learning more about how college students decide where to vote can shed light on young adults’ attitudes towards voting and motivations to engage in politics more generally. During the 2022 midterm elections, I conducted a study of college students to understand how they evaluate the multitude of factors that can differ between voting locations such as competitiveness of elections, registration procedures, and the ability to vote with others in their social network when deciding where to vote. Using a paired comparison experiment, I asked students to choose which is a more convincing reason to vote in either location between random pairs of factors revealing a rank ordering of considerations for each location based on importance. Results indicate that factors like specific knowledge about a candidate and the competitiveness of elections in each location factor more heavily into this decision than the ability to vote with family or friends. Thus, social aspects of voting are less important than campaign and informational resource considerations, at least among this vital part of the electorate. These findings have implications for election administrators seeking to improve accessibility and convenience for college student voters. Additionally, I plan to expand the analysis to examine how the ability to decide where to vote as well as the decision-making process itself relates to political efficacy.

Author

• Caroline High Pippert, Northwestern University