1. Voter Behavior

2. Terms to Know Ballot Fatigue – run out of patience and knowledge at the end of the ballot and leave it blank Time-zone Fallout - polls in eastern states close 1 st, discouraging voters in western states Straight-ticket Voting – voting for everyone from the same party Split-ticket Voting – voting for candidates from different parties

3. Voter Turnout High voter turnout: –Presidential years (around 50%) –Compare to Indiana’s 19% during 2006 primary Why people don’t vote? –Distrust politicians –Feel it won’t make a difference –Don’t care

4. Factors affecting voter turnout: Level of Income↑ - increases OccupationProfessional jobs – increases Education↑ - increases Age↑ - increases GenderFemale – increases Party IdentificationGreater - increases

5. Factors influencing which party people vote for: DemocratRepublican Income / Occupation Less $, manual workers More $, professionals Education LessMore Gender / Age Young / womenOlder / men Religion Catholic, JewsProtestants Ethnicity Minority GroupsWhite Geography Big citiesRural areas