Why people vote in local level referendums: comparing Germany and the United States

Hedrick, S. and Gherghina, S. (2021) Why people vote in local level referendums: comparing Germany and the United States. European Politics and Society, 22(5), pp. 716-732. (doi: 10.1080/23745118.2020.1820703)

Abstract

Although local level referendums have been quite common in the last three decades, there is little research on who participates. This article seeks to address this gap in the literature and analyses the determinants of turnout in local level referendums in Germany and the USA. Our analysis tests for explanatory power of civicness, political knowledge, interest in local politics, saliency of the referendum topic, party cues and citizens as decision-makers. It controls for satisfaction with democracy, voting in local elections and education. We use individual level data collected through an original survey in February–April 2018, which included respondents who had referendums organized in their community, since they became eligible to vote. In both countries voting in local level referendums is driven by engagement with elections and political knowledge, while civicness and interest in politics have mixed effects.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gherghina, Dr Sergiu
• Authors: Hedrick, S., and Gherghina, S.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: European Politics and Society
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 2374-5118
• ISSN (Online): 2374-5126
• Published Online: 17 September 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor and Francis Group
• First Published: First published in European Politics and Society 22(5): 716-732
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy