Gene x Environment Interplay on Political Participation: the Effect of Information Demands

Empirically, one of the strong predictors of voter turnout is educational attainment.  Education is theorized to influence voter turnout in part because it enables citizens to more easily overcome information demands... [ view full abstract ]

Empirically, one of the strong predictors of voter turnout is educational attainment.  Education is theorized to influence voter turnout in part because it enables citizens to more easily overcome information demands associated with voting.  The genetic propensity to acquire education, captured using a polygenic score, has also been shown to be strongly related to voter turnout.    In this study, we test whether the exogenous electoral environment, which dictates the information demands citizens face, moderates the relationship between the polygenic score for educational attainment and voter turnout.

Every ten years, the electoral district boundaries are redrawn in the United States in order to account for shifts in population.  Previous research has found that this redistricting process tends to reduce electoral participation because it raises informational costs associated with voting for many citizens.  This is because they are forced to choose among politicians they are unfamiliar with (rather than their familiar incumbent).  We analyze the redistricting process in Minnesota following the 2010 census where the electoral boundaries were redrawn by a judicial panel.  In our sample, 30% of registered voters had to choose between two non-incumbents running for the Minnesota House of Representatives in the 2012 election.  We find a significant interaction between the polygenic score and the electoral environment; those at the upper end of the polygenic score were significantly more likely to vote when choosing among unfamiliar candidates than those at the lower end of the score.