California Voter Participation Survey

Cross-Tabulation Summary Report

Overview

Research on nonvoters and infrequent voters shows that both groups believe that voting is important, but also reveals barriers to actually voting.

Asked generally what prevented them from voting or registering, voters cite lack of time. When this is further explored, a greater diversity of barriers and motivations emerges, revealing differences according to ethnicity.

African American respondents demonstrate greater distrust and skepticism of the voting system. They are more likely to cite distrust of election information as a barrier to voting, are less likely to believe that votes make a difference, and that their vote would be counted accurately.

Asian Pacific Islander (API) respondents reported less presence of a pro-voting culture. They are the least likely to have family and friends who vote, most likely to have friends that hardly ever talk about politics, and least likely to have grown up in a household where political issues were discussed. Perhaps as a result of not having as many friends who vote, API respondents are the most likely to cite problems obtaining, sifting through, and understanding election information.

Latino respondents are most likely to cite being busy as their greatest barrier to voting, and when asked what the time barrier is, are most likely to report that long job hours are the greatest barrier.

Specific findings include:

Right Direction Versus Wrong Track

African American respondents feel the most negatively about the direction of California, while API respondents feel the most positively.

Importance of Voting

All respondents feel that voting is important, with more than three in four infrequent voters and the majority of nonvoters describing voting as extremely or very important.

Most Important Reasons for Not Voting and Not Registering

On the open-ended question about the most important reason to not vote in every election, ethnic subgroups of infrequent voters identify being too busy as one of the top reasons for not voting. Not believing in any candidates is also a top reason for infrequent voters of color, more than white infrequent voters.
On the question about why nonvoters don’t register to vote, being too busy was the top reason for every ethnic subgroup. The belief that voting doesn’t make a difference was also important for Latino and African American nonvoters, while not remembering to register was named by one in six API nonvoters. African Americans were also more likely to say that the lack of issues affecting them was a barrier to registering.

Barriers in the Voting Process

Understanding the voter information pamphlet and getting the necessary information to make a voting decision were the two most difficult steps of the voting process for infrequent voters of all three ethnic subgroups. For Spanish-speaking Latino voters, getting materials in Spanish was the most difficult step. Voting itself was also difficult for some infrequent voters, whether it was done by absentee or at the polling place.

Voting Attitudes and Experiences

Infrequent voters across ethnic subgroups feel more positively about voting than do nonvoters. Both groups of respondents across ethnic groups, however, recognize the importance of staying informed about political issues and see voting as an important part of being a good citizen and an important way to voice opinions. Respondents also say that poll workers are generally polite and helpful.
Latino and API respondents feel that voting lets you choose who represents you and that their votes make a difference in the outcome of the election, while African American respondents are less likely to agree with both of these statements.
Agreeing with the statement “I like to vote” shows the greatest difference between nonvoters and infrequent voters, with nonvoters in every ethnic subgroup much less likely to agree than infrequent voters.
The level of immersion in a pro-voting culture varies between nonvoters and infrequent voters and between ethnic subgroups. Infrequent voters of all ethnicities are much more likely to be interested in politics and follow it in the news. Nonvoters—especially API nonvoters—are much less likely to have family and friends who vote. The majority of nonvoters and infrequent voters agree that their friends hardly ever talk about politics. This is especially prevalent among African American and API nonvoters. The majority of nonvoters and more than a third of infrequent voters grew up in households in which political issues were not discussed. API and Latino respondents were even more likely to grow up in such households.
There is a high degree of cynicism among many respondents, especially African American voters. A full half of African American nonvoters do not believe that when they vote, their vote will be counted accurately. More than a third of all ethnic subgroups agree that there is no one on the ballot that they want to vote for, and close to that proportion says that they make more of a statement by not voting than by voting.

Most Important Reason to Vote

Voters across ethnic subgroups agree that the most important reason to vote is to make their voice heard and express opinion. Latino infrequent voters especially cited expressing opinion with more than half naming it as the single most important reason to vote. Supporting a particular candidate was the second most commonly named reason, followed by civic duty in the Latino and API groups. African American respondents were less likely to name civic duty.

Reasons People Don’t Vote

The perception that politics are controlled by special interests is widely shared across subgroups, who agree it is the leading reason why they don’t vote. Candidates not speaking to respondents was the second most named reason across subgroups, especially among African American and API respondents. Also frequently named were being too busy, too many things on the ballot, and the challenge of sifting through available information. Being busy was more likely to be named by Latino respondents and the challenge of sifting through information and too many things on the ballot were both more likely to be named by API respondents.
Next most frequently named were issues being too confusing, lack of interest in politics, and disbelief that votes will be counted accurately. Lack of interest in politics was more likely to be named by API infrequent voters, while skepticism about votes being counted accurately was most pronounced among African American respondents. Distrust of available information, difficulty getting necessary voting information, lack of effect of election results, and difficulty using election equipment were also named. Distrust of election information was more likely to be named by African American respondents, difficulty using election equipment was most pronounced among Latinos, and difficulty getting necessary information was most pronounced among API respondents.
Lack of access to election information in one’s preferred language was one of the top reasons among all API respondents and among Latinos who completed the interview in Spanish. Less common reasons were the belief that votes don’t make a difference, difficulty figuring out where to vote, the isolating feeling of voting, discomfort at the polling place, unfriendly poll workers, and a feeling that the United States is not home.

The Time Barrier

The length of job hours was the greatest time barrier to voting for all ethnic subgroups. For all groups, voting itself taking too much time was named as the second most common time barrier.

The Information Barrier

Difficulty understanding election information was the greatest barrier for Latinos and API voters, while distrust of election information was the greatest barrier for African Americans and API nonvoters. Lack of availability was less likely to be named by all ethnic subgroups.

Registering to Vote

A third of nonvoters, especially Latinos, don’t know where to find voter registration forms. Almost one in five nonvoters and one in three API nonvoters thought they were registered through the DMV. Between one in five and one in three nonvoters across ethnic subgroups did not register because they wanted to keep their information private or because they didn’t want to get called for jury duty. African Americans were most likely to not want to get called for jury duty.

Election Day Holiday

Having a holiday on Election Day makes no difference to most respondents. It has more of a positive effect than negative effect, especially with African American and API nonvoters, but overall those more likely to vote with an Election Day holiday are cancelled out by those less likely to vote with an Election Day holiday.

Election Information Sources

Conversations with family, television news, and local newspapers were the most influential sources of election information for infrequent voters. Conversations with family were the most influential for Latino infrequent voters. While these conversations were influential with all Latino infrequent voters as a whole, they were significantly more influential for Latino infrequent voters for whom English is not their first or primary language in comparison to Latino infrequent voters for whom English is their first and primary language. Newspapers were the most influential for African Americans, and network television was the most influential for API infrequent voters.

Current Events Information Sources

Television is the greatest source of information for respondents overall, with newspapers following closely behind for infrequent voters, and a little further behind for nonvoters. Findings show that the Internet is the third most cited source of current events information, and is the top source for API infrequent voters.

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