The Underexplored Species: Selective Participation in Direct Democratic Votes

• DOI: 10.1111/spsr.12178
• Publication Date: 2015-09-28T05:22:55Z
• Authors: Pascal Sciarini; Fabio Cappelletti; Andreas C. Goldberg; Simon Lanz
• Keywords: Turnout; Direct Democracy; Survey data collection; Democratic Theory

Abstract While electoral research usually distinguishes voters from abstainers, in the Swiss direct democratic context one needs to take into account a third category of citizens, selective voters, who decide anew at each vote whether they will participate or not. This article offers an investigation this common but under‐researched form participation. To that end, we advantage unique data‐set linking official turnout data with survey data. Our results show constitute bulk electorate. heterogeneous group terms socio‐demographic characteristics, lean more towards abstainers than permanent respect political variables. We argue is not necessarily bad news theory.