Television and Voter Turnout*
2006/07/17 by Matthew Gentzkow · 828 citations
Social Sciences · #Advertising #Business #Consumption (sociology) #Demographic economics #Economics #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Gender Politics and Representation #Geography #Law #Media Influence and Politics #Newspaper #Political science #Politics #Quarter (Canadian coin) #Sociology #Television advertising #Turnout #Voter turnout #Voting
paper · doi:10.1162/qjec.121.3.931
published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics 121(3), 931-972 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 2006/07/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract
I use variation across markets in the timing of television's introduction to identify its impact on voter turnout. The estimated effect is significantly negative, accounting for between a quarter and a half of the total decline in turnout since the 1950s. I argue that substitution away from other media with more political coverage provides a plausible mechanism linking television to voting. As evidence for this, I show that the entry of television in a market coincided with sharp drops in consumption of newspapers and radio, and in political knowledge as measured by election surveys. I also show that both the information and turnout effects were largest in off-year congressional elections, which receive extensive coverage in newspapers but little or no coverage on television.
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