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