THE EDUCATION-TURNOUT PUZZLE IN RECENT UNITED-STATES NATIONAL ELECTIONS

Although early behavioural research found a linear relation between education and turnout in American national elections, validated vote data from the CPS National Election Studies show that during the 1970s and 1980s, White grade schoolers outvoted those with some high school. This puzzling relationship is cleared up when it is discovered that elderly citizens, who vote at relatively high rates, are increasingly disproportionately represented in the grade school category, and that young Whites who are high school dropouts have very low turnout records. Future studies of formal schooling's effect on turnout must take this age-skew of educational attainment into account. © 1990.