2023/07/28 by Elizabeth Mitchell Elder, Ryan Enos, Tali Mendelberg · 1 voice · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Income, Poverty, and Inequality #Social Policy and Reform Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0003055423000692
openalex publication_date 2023/07/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/25
Socioeconomic disadvantage is a major correlate of low political participation. This association is among the most robust findings in political science. However, it is based largely on observational data. The causal effects of early-life disadvantage in particular are even less understood, because long-term data on the political consequences of randomized early-life anti-poverty interventions is nearly nonexistent. We leverage the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment to test the long-term effect of moving out of disadvantaged neighborhoods—and thus out of deep poverty—on turnout. MTO is one of the most ambitious anti-poverty experiments ever implemented in the United States. Although MTO ameliorated children’s poverty long term, we find that, contrary to expectations, the intervention did not increase children’s likelihood of voting later in life. Additional tests show the program did not ameliorate their poverty enough to affect turnout. These findings speak to the complex relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and low political participation.