Government and Politics Issues

Census Bureau Survey: Why People Don't Vote


The single biggest reason Americans give for not voting is time constraints, according to a new Census Bureau survey being released today.

  • Some 21.5 percent of respondents who failed to vote in the 1996 elections said they had no time -- up from just 8 percent in the 1980 elections.

  • Just over 17 percent indicated they didn't care about the elections -- up from 11 percent 16 years before.

  • Some 13 percent of nonvoters said they failed to cast ballots because they didn't like the candidates, 15 percent said they were ill or faced an emergency, 4 percent lacked transportation, 11 percent were out of town, and 1 percent found the lines at the polls too long.

  • About 21.3 million eligible voters failed to make it to the ballot box in 1996.

Fewer people registered and voted in the 1996 election than in any general election since 1964, when the bureau started keeping statistics. The voter turn-out rate stood at 69.3 percent in 1964, declining to 61.3 percent in 1992, and hit a record low of 54.2 percent four years later.

Source: August Gribbin, "Frantic Schedules, Indifference Keep Voters From the Polls," Washington Times, August 17, 1998.

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