Marital Status and Voting Behavior

STARTING IN THE 1970s, scholars have taken into consideration the role that marital status has in shaping voting behavior. Under the rubric of the marriage gap, it has been documented that compared to single adults, married individuals tend to be more conservative and more likely to vote Republican than Democrat. In addition, marital status is also suggested to have an impact on the level of political participation as a higher voter turnout is generally observed among married people. Another issue related to marital status and voting behavior is how marriage functions as a two-person social network that develops a certain level of political homogeneity between spouses, which, in turn, leads to similar electoral preferences.

The difference in voting behavior based on marital status first became evident in the 1972 presidential election, where the vote for those who were married was 15 percent more Republican than the unmarried vote. Similarly, Ronald Reagan won 63 percent of the vote of married people, compared to 51 percent of the vote of unmarried people in the 1984 presidential election. In fact, the marriage gap in 1984 was larger than most other demographic voting differences, including those between Protestants and Catholics, men and women, and between northern and southern whites. An exit poll of 13,130 voters taken by CNN in the 2000 presidential election indicates that, whereas 53 percent of married people voted for George W. Bush, only 38 percent of the unmarried respondents voted Republican. Likewise, according to a CNN exit poll from the 2004 presidential election, 57 percent of the married people voted for George W. Bush, whereas 58 percent of the unmarried respondents voted for the Democratic candidate, John E Kerry.

Various causal accounts have been offered to explain the link between marital status and voting behavior. Attitudinal explanations of the marriage gap draw attention to the traditional versus nontraditional life styles and family structures, particularly with regard to gender roles, en route to formation of different voting patterns and ideological self-identifications. Among sociodemo-graphic explanations, race and income are often considered leading antecedent factors. Married people are most likely to be Anglo American and to have higher incomes, and thus to vote Republican, whereas the Democratic Party appeals more to minorities and the poor. Moreover, as married people are more likely to have children and to own property, they are also more likely to have a benign view of authority and preservation of social order, which are associated with conservative leanings. Accordingly, they are more prone to vote for the Republican Party, which is a promoter of conservatism.

In addition to voting preferences, partisanship, and political attitudes, marital status is also associated with voter turnout. Several studies suggest that married people are relatively more likely to vote compared to singles (with the exception of early parenthood cases, which depresses turnout). Higher turnout rates may be a reflection of interpersonal influences within the family such as the presence of a politically active spouse, which may encourage a higher level of political interest, and increased motivation to participate in politics. On the other hand, singles appear more inclined toward political activities beyond the act of voting, while time-consuming involvements of family life may hinder the more active political participation of married people.

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