Voting and Registration in the Election of November 1978

September 1979

Report Number P20-344

Introduction

Download P20-344. Voting and Registration in the Election of November 1978 [PDF - 5.4 MB]

Less than half of the civilian noninstitutional population of voting age actually voted in the November 1978 Congressional election, according to information reported in the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the Bureau of the Census in November 1978. The reported turnout in 1978 (46 percent) was close to the turnout reported in the 1974 Congressional election (45 percent), but substantially below that reported in the Presidential election of 1976 (59 percent).

Results of the Current Population Surveys of voting and registration over the past decade and a half almost invariably show higher voting rates for the middle to upper income, occupational, and educational groups whose members are old enough to have families and to be settled in their communities. Taken together, the factors of community attachment (approximated in this report by homeownership and duration of residence), family status, socioeconomic status, and age seem more predictive of voter turnout than any other variables identified in the CPS. While overall White voting rates appear to be considerably higher than Black rates, analyses of previous CPS results show that racial differences in voter turnout are largely a product of socioeconomic and age differences.¹

Some important findings resulting from the November 1978 survey of registration and voting are:

Homeowners are twice as likely to vote as renters–59 percent and 28 percent, respectively.
Persons who have lived in the same house for a long time are more likely to vote than persons who have recently moved.
Married couples maintaining families are more likely to vote than other relatives living in their households, and twice as likely as nonrelatives.
College graduates are more than twice as likely to vote as persons who did not complete elementary school–64 percent and 29 percent, respectively.
White-collar workers are more likely to vote than persons in other occupation groups.
Persons 65 years and over are nearly three times as likely to vote (56 percent) as persons 18 to 20 years old (20 percent).

__________
¹ U.S. Bureau of the Census, Currant Population Reports, Series P-20, No. 322, "Voting and Registration in the Election of November 1976."

Tables

Table 1. Reported Voting and Registration - Sex and Single Years of Age [<1.0 MB]

Table 2. Reported Voting and Registration - Race, Spanish Origin, Sex, and Age, for the United States and Regions [<1.0 MB]

Table 3. Reported Voting and Registration - Race, Spanish Origin, and Metropolitan-Nonmetropolitan Residence, for the United States and Regions [<1.0 MB]

Table 4. Reported Voting and Registration - Race, Spanish Origin, and Age, for Divisions [<1.0 MB]

Table 5. Reported Voting and Registration - Sex and Age, for the 25 Largest States [<1.0 MB]

Table 6. Reported Voting and Registration - Sex and Age, for 30 Selected Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas [<1.0 MB]

Table 7. Reported Voting and Registration - Sex and Household Relationship [<1.0 MB]

Table 8. Reported Voting and Registration of Primary Family Heads - Race, Spanish Origin, Age, and Presence of Own Children Under 18 Years [<1.0 MB]

Table 9. Reported Voting and Registration of Primary Family Heads - Race, Spanish Origin, Age, Sex, Presence of Own Children Under 18 Years, and Tenure [<1.0 MB]

Table 10. Reported Voting and Registration - Age, Sex, and Marital Status [<1.0 MB]

Table 11. Reported Voting and Registration - Race, Spanish Origin, Age, Sex, and Years of School Completed [<1.0 MB]

Table 12. Reported Voting and Registration - Sex, Employment Status, and Class of Worker [<1.0 MB]

Table 13. Reported Voting and Registration - Race, Spanish Origin, Sex, and Major Occupation Group [<1.0 MB]

Table 14. Reported Voting and Registration of Primary Family Members - Race, Spanish Origin, Age, and Family Income [<1.0 MB]

Table 15. Reported Voting and Registration of Primary Family Members - Race, Spanish Origin, Age, and Duration of Residence [<1.0 MB]

Table 16. Reported Voting in 1978 and 1976 of Persons 20 Years Old and Over - Race, Spanish Origin, Sex, and Age [<1.0 MB]

Table 17. Reported Voting in 1978 and 1976 of Persons 20 Years Old and Over - Race, Spanish Origin, Sex, and Years of School Completed [<1.0 MB]

Table 18. Reported Reason Not Voting of Persons Who Reported That They Were Registered but Did Not Vote - Race, Spanish Origin, Sex, and Age [<1.0 MB]

Table 19. Reported Reason Not Registered to Vote - Race, Spanish Origin, Sex, and Age [<1.0 MB]

Table 20. Reported Voting and Registration - Race, Spanish Origin, Central City Residence, and Age, for Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas [<1.0 MB]

Table 21. Reported Voting and Registration - Central City Residence and Household Relationship, for Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas [<1.0 MB]

Table 22. Reported Voting and Registration - Central City Residence and Years of School Completed, for Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas [<1.0 MB]

Table 23. Reported Voting and Registration - Race, Spanish Origin, Central City Residence, and Duration of Residence, for Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas [<1.0 MB]

Table 24. Reported Voting and Registration of Persons in Primary Families - Race, Spanish Origin, Central City Residence, Tenure, and Age, for Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas [<1.0 MB]

Table 25. Reporting Voting and Registration - Race, Spanish Origin, Type of Respondent, and Sex [<1.0 MB]

Others in Series

Publication | November 1978

Geographical Mobility : March 1975 to March 1978

The March 1978 Current Population Survey (CPS) included questions on respondents county and city of residence three years earlier, in March of 1975.

Publication | May 1979

Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 1978

Detailed tabulations provide statistics on the marital status and living arrangements of the United States population using data from the 1978 CPS.

Publication | February 1980

Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 1979

Detailed tabulations provide statistics on the marital status and living arrangements of the United States population using data from the 1979 CPS.

View All

Related Information

PUBLICATION

Voting and Registration Publications

Current Population Survey Publications

Last Revised: October 8, 2021

Some content on this site is available in several different electronic formats. Some of the files may require a plug-in or additional software to view.