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How, and For Whom, Does Higher Education Increase Voting?

Caitlin E Ahearn1, Jennie E Brand1, Xiang Zhou2

  • 1University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

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PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

College education directly boosts voting likelihood more than indirect paths like degree completion. The greatest civic impact of college benefits those least likely to attend, highlighting broader societal gains.

Keywords:
Causal mediationCollegeHeterogeneityVoting

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Area of Science:

  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Economics

Background:

  • Higher education is linked to increased voter turnout.
  • Existing research suggests both direct (e.g., engagement) and indirect (e.g., socioeconomic status) pathways through which college influences voting.
  • Empirical testing of these pathways and their individual variations is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the direct and indirect effects of college attendance on voting behavior.
  • To analyze how these effects differ across individuals with varying college attendance propensities.
  • To explore the role of degree attainment and socioeconomic status in the college-voting relationship.

Main Methods:

  • Nonparametric causal mediation analysis.
  • Utilized longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (1979 and 1997 cohorts).
  • Examined total, direct, and indirect effects of college attendance on self-reported voting.

Main Results:

  • College attendance has a substantial direct effect on voting.
  • Indirect effects via degree completion and socioeconomic attainment are comparatively smaller.
  • The largest positive effect of college on voting is observed in individuals with a low propensity to attend college, driven by the direct effect.
  • Civic returns to college are not dependent on degree completion or socioeconomic gains.

Conclusions:

  • Direct pathways, such as increased political interest and engagement, are primary drivers of college's effect on voting.
  • The civic benefits of higher education extend to individuals who might not otherwise attend college.
  • Focusing solely on economic returns overlooks significant societal advantages of expanding access to higher education, particularly for disadvantaged youth.