California Voter Participation Survey

Overall Findings

Incentives for Voting

Infrequent voters believe voting is important. 96 percent say voting is extremely, very or moderately important (28 percent say it’s extremely important; 49 percent say it’s very important; and 19 percent say it’s moderately important).
Nonvoters also believe voting is important, but not to the same degree as infrequent voters. 73 percent of nonvoters say voting is important (22 percent say it’s extremely important; 25 percent say it’s very important; and 26 percent say it’s moderately important). 13 percent of nonvoters say voting is not at all important, compared to just one percent of infrequent voters.
82 percent of infrequent voters say their family votes in most or all elections, compared to 62 percent of nonvoters.
92 percent of infrequent voters say they like to vote. 62 percent strongly agree with the statement, “I like to vote,” while 30 percent agree somewhat.
82 percent of infrequent voters and 62 percent of nonvoters say they are interested in politics and follow it in the news when they have a chance.
96 percent of infrequent voters say it’s important to stay informed about political issues (75 percent strongly agree and 21 percent agree somewhat). Among nonvoters, 60 percent strongly agree and 27 percent agree somewhat.
64 percent of infrequent voters and 50 percent of nonvoters say their friends vote in most or all elections; in both groups, 15 percent said they didn’t know whether their friends vote.
The message “Voting is an important part of being a good citizen” resonates strongly with infrequent voters. 76 percent said they strongly agree with this statement; overall, 93 percent agree. Among nonvoters, 49 percent strongly agree and 23 percent agree somewhat.
40 percent of infrequent voters and 51 percent of nonvoters grew up in a family that does not discuss political issues and candidates.
The message “Voting is an important way to voice your opinions on issues that affect your family and your community” resonates strongly with infrequent voters. 93 percent agreed with this statement, with 74 percent saying they strongly agree. Among nonvoters, 81 percent agreed, with 55 percent saying they strongly agree.
The message “I make more of a statement by not voting than I would if I voted” resonates more with nonvoters than infrequent voters. 79 percent of infrequent voters disagreed with the statement, with 64 percent strongly disagreeing. By contrast, 61 percent of nonvoters disagreed with the statement, with 41 percent strongly disagreeing. Only 16 percent of infrequent voters agreed with the statement, while nearly double—30 percent—of nonvoters agreed.
The two most important reasons for voting among infrequent voters were “to make your voice heard/express your opinion” (43 percent) and “to support a particular candidate” (24 percent). These two reasons also rated highest among nonvoters (32 percent and 19 percent, respectively).
Infrequent voters indicate that some specific issues would motivate them to vote. 20 percent said education/schools would motivate them to vote; 17 percent said the economy would motivate them to vote; 12 percent said health care, and 12 percent said government/leadership. Education, the economy and government/leadership also rated high as reasons to vote among nonvoters; however, 17 percent of nonvoters said “nothing would motivate me to vote,” compared to 8 percent of infrequent voters.
Making Election Day a holiday is not likely to increase voter turnout. Among infrequent voters, 20 percent said a holiday would make them more likely to vote, while 15 percent said they would be less likely, and 64 percent said it wouldn’t make a difference. Among nonvoters, 16 percent said they’d be more likely, 12 percent said they’d be less likely, and 70 percent said it would make no difference.

Barriers to Voting

Among infrequent voters, the two most important reasons for not voting were “I’m too busy to vote” (28 percent) and “There are no candidates that I believe in” (20 percent).
Among infrequent and nonvoters, five barriers to voting rated much higher than other barriers:

1) “Politics are controlled by special interests” (66 percent of infrequent voters and 69 percent of nonvoters agree);

2) “I don’t feel that candidates really speak to me” (49 percent of infrequent voters and 55 percent of nonvoters agree);

3) “It is too hard to sift through all the information available to make good decisions on how to vote” (45 percent of infrequent voters and 52 percent of nonvoters agree);

4) “I am too busy with work or my family” (43 percent of infrequent voters and 46 percent of nonvoters agree); and

5) “The issues are too confusing” (42 percent of infrequent voters and 48 percent of nonvoters agree).
Job hours were the biggest factor leading infrequent voters to say they’re too busy to vote. Of those who said they were too busy with work or family to vote, 42 percent said it was because “job hours are too long.” The second factor cited most frequently was “Voting itself takes too much time” (21 percent). These two reasons also rated highest among nonvoters, with 34 percent citing long job hours and 22 percent saying voting takes too much time.
More than half of infrequent voters are not familiar with absentee voting. 50 percent said they had never voted absentee, and 2 percent said they didn’t know whether absentee voting was easy or difficult.
52 percent of infrequent voters and nonvoters work more than 40 hours per week; 16 percent of infrequent voters and 15 percent of nonvoters work more than 50 hours per week.
44 percent of nonvoters say they have been registered to vote before but not at their current address; 18 percent say they thought they registered through the Department of Motor Vehicles.
23 percent of nonvoters say they aren’t registered to vote because they want their information to remain private. 24 percent say they’re not registered because they don’t want to get called for jury duty.

Sources of Information and Influence

Information comprehension is a barrier for infrequent voters and nonvoters; trustworthiness of election information is also a challenge. Among infrequent voters, 49 percent said election information is hard to understand and 29 percent said it is untrustworthy. Among nonvoters, 39 percent said it is hard to understand and the same number, 39 percent, said it is untrustworthy. Nine percent of infrequent voters and 12 percent of nonvoters said election information is not available.
Getting the information necessary to make voting decisions and reading and understanding the voter pamphlet rated as more difficult steps in the voting process than others. Among infrequent voters, 20 percent rated these two steps as difficult. By contrast, only 3 percent said registering to vote was difficult; 7 percent said finding their polling place was difficult, and 5 percent said voting at their polling place was difficult.
Infrequent voters find local newspapers and conversations with family to be the most influential information sources in helping them make election decisions. The following sources are viewed as the most influential among infrequent voters:

Local newspaper: 65 percent
Conversations with family: 65 percent
Network TV news: 64 percent
Cable TV news: 60 percent
Conversations with friends: 59 percent

More than half of the infrequent voters surveyed said phone calls from campaigns and door-to-door campaigning by volunteers are not influential when it comes to making voting decisions. 58 percent of infrequent voters said phone calls from a political campaign are not influential, and 53 percent said volunteers at their door from a political campaign are not influential.
Infrequent voters and nonvoters get most of their information about news and events of the day from similar sources, with cable and network TV as the most prevalent news sources for nearly half of infrequent voters and 56 percent of nonvoters, followed by newspapers and the Internet.

Demographics

51 percent of infrequent voters own their own home, 25 percent rent, and 20 percent live with their parents. Among nonvoters, 35 percent are homeowners, 41 percent rent, and 20 percent live with their parents.
50 percent of infrequent voters are married; 31 percent are single. Among nonvoters, 34 percent are married; 40 percent are single.
17 percent of infrequent voters were not born in the United States; 27 percent say their parents were not born in the U.S. Among nonvoters, 15 percent were born outside of the U.S., and 28 percent say their parents were born outside of the U.S.
88 percent of infrequent voters have access to the Internet, either at home, work, or somewhere else. Among nonvoters, 77 percent have access to the Internet. Infrequent voters were more likely to have Internet access at home—43 percent—than nonvoters, of whom 36 percent report having Internet access at home.

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