The voter turnout in the 1974 Congressional election of about 39 percent, according to official statistics, was the lowest in an off-year election since 1946. This low turnout is reflected in the results of the November 1974 Current Population Survey where 45 percent of all civilians age 18 and older, not residing in institutions, were reported as having cast ballots.¹ Voter participation in 1974 as reported by the survey was about 10 percentage points lower than in the previous Congressional election in 1970, and around 18 percentage points below the level attained in the 1972 Presidential election. That election had one of the lowest turnouts for a Presidential election in recent American history. The number of persons reported as being registered to vote but failing to cast ballots amounted to about 18 percent of the total electorate, while 32 percent were not registered to vote.²

This report presents selected findings from the 1974 voting survey. The "hard core" nonparticipants, that is, those who never vote or seldom vote, are examined in terms of their demographic profile and their reported reasons for not voting. In addition, the demographic characteristics associated with the low turnout in this election are compared with data from the 1970 Congressional and 1972 Presidential elections. New findings on the effect of length of residence and mobility on voting and registration are analyzed. Finally, an analysis is made of the "youth vote," those persons at the lower end of the age scale who have comprised a larger proportion of potential voters since the minimum voting age was uniformly lowered to 18 by the 26th Amendment.

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¹ The disparity between official results and estimates from the survey has been noted in other surveys, and is due in part to differences between the sample universe and the electorate, and also to certain aspects of the survey process, such as a tendency among respondents to overreport voting participation to interviewers. See Evaluation of the Accuracy of the Data on p. 8 of this report.
² In addition, registration of approximately 6 percent of the electorate was not reported or not known to the person responding for other household members. In most of the tables in this report, this group is included in the total of those not registered.

Tables

Table 1. Reported Voting and Registration of Persons of Voting Age, by Race, Spanish Origin, Sex, and Age, for the United States and Regions: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 2. Reported Voting and Registration of Persons of Voting Age, by Age, for the 15 Largest States and 30 Largest SMSAâ s: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 3. Reported Voting and Registration of Persons of Voting Age, by Race and Metropolitan-Nonmetropolitan Residence: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 4. Reported Voting and Registration of Persons of Voting Age, by Age, Sex, and Marital Status: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 5. Reported Voting and Registration of Persons of Voting Age, by Race, Age, Sex, and Years of School Completed: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 6. Reported Voting and Registration of Persons of Voting Age, by Employment Status and Class of Worker, Race, and Sex: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 7. Reported Voting and Registration of Employed Persons of Voting Age, by Major Occupation Group, Race, and Sex: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 8. Reported Voting and Registration of Persons of Voting Age in Primary Families, by Family Income, Race, and Age: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 9. Reported Reason Not Voting of Persons Who Reported That They Were Registered But Did Not Vote, by Race, Spanish Origin, Sex, and Age, for the United States and Regions: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 10. Reported Reason Not Voting of Persons Who Reported That They Were Registered But Did Not Vote, by Race and Years of School Completed, for the United States and Regions: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 11. Reported Reason Not Voting of Employed Persons Who Reported That They Were Registered But Did Not Vote, by Major Occupation Group, Race, and Sex: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 12. Reported Reason Not Registered to Vote of Persons of Voting Age, by Race, Spanish Origin, Sex, and Age, for the United States and Regions: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 13. Reported Reason Not Registered to Vote of Persons of Voting Age, by Years of School Completed and Race: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 14. Reported Reason Not Registered to Vote of Employed Persons of Voting Age, by Major Occupation Group, Race, and Sex: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 15. Reported Voting in 1974 and 1974 of Persons 20 Years Old and Over, by Age, Race, and Sex: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 16. Reported Voting in 1974 and 1974 of Persons 20 Years Old and Over, by Years of School Completed and Sex: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 17. Reported Voting in 1974 and 1974 of Persons 20 Years Old and Over, by Occupation and Sex: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 18. Reported Reason Not Registered to Vote in 1974 of Persons 20 Years Old and Over Who Voted in 1974, by Age, Sex, and Race, for the United States and Regions: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 19. Reported Reason Not Voting in 1974 of Persons 20 Years Old and Over Who Voted in 1974, by Race, Sex, Age, and Years of School Completed, for the United States and Regions: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 20. Reported Voting and Registration of Persons of Voting Age, by Duration of Residence, Race, Age, and Sex: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 21. Reported Voting and Registration of Persons of Voting Age, by Mobility Status, Duration of Residence, Race, and Sex: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 22. Reported Voting and Registration of Persons of Voting Age, by Duration of Residence and Years of School Completed: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 23. Type of Ballot Cast for Persons Who Reported That They Voted, by Sex, Age, and Duration of Residence: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 24. Year Last Voted of Persons Who Reported Not Voting in 1974, by Sex, Age, Duration of Residence, and Years of School Completed: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 25. Reported Reason Not Registered to Vote of Persons of Voting Age, by Duration of Residence and Mobility Status: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 26. Reported Reason Not Registered to Vote of Persons of Voting Age, by Year Last Voted and Sex: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Table 27. Reported Reason Not Voting of Persons Who Reported That They Were Registered But Did Not Vote, by Year Last Voted and Sex: November 1974 [<1.0 MB]

Others in Series

Publication

Mobility of the Population of the U.S.: March 1970 to March 1975

October 1975

Persons moving from metropolitan areas exceeded movers to metropolitan areas between March 1970 to 1975.

Publication

Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 1975

December 1975

Detailed tabulations provide statistics on the marital status and living arrangements of the United States population using data from the 1975 CPS.

Publication

Number, Timing, and Duration of Marriages and Divorces

October 1976

This report presents results of a study of the material history of men and women that was conducted in June 1975 by the Bureau of the Census.

View All

Related Information

PUBLICATION

Voting and Registration Publications

Current Population Survey Publications

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