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Getting Out the Vote: Party Mobilization in a Comparative Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2007

JEFFREY A. KARP ,
SUSAN A. BANDUCCI  and
SHAUN BOWLER
JEFFREY A. KARP
Affiliation:
Department of Politics, University of Exeter
SUSAN A. BANDUCCI
Affiliation:
Department of Politics, University of Exeter
SHAUN BOWLER
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of California, Riverside
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Abstract

A long tradition within political science examines the impact of party canvassing on voter participation. Very little of this work, however, is comparative in scope. This essay examines how system-level characteristics shape the nature and impact of party canvassing and how voters respond to those efforts. Parties are found to target the same types of potential voters everywhere – those who are likely to participate. However, one important difference is that overall levels of party contact are far greater in candidate-based systems than in proportional representation (PR) systems. Party mobilization, therefore, cannot explain the higher rates of turnout observed in PR systems.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 91 - 112
Copyright
2007 Cambridge University Press

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