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Why raising incomes can boost youth voting rates

Wristbands for voters are seen at a polling station during early voting in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., October 14, 2016.    REUTERS/Jim Young  - S1BEUGZEKGAA

Editor’s Note: The Brookings Cafeteria podcast will release new episodes on the issues shaping the 2018 midterms every Tuesday and Friday leading up to Election Day. You can follow the series where we list all episodes of the Cafeteria podcast, and visit our 2018 Midterms page for more research and analysis on the upcoming elections.

Randall Akee, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Economic Studies program at Brookings, discusses new research on the relationship between household incomes and voting in the U.S. He and his co-researchers discovered that an increase in a child’s family income increases the likelihood that he or she becomes an active voter as an adult. Akee also discusses the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding North Dakota’s requirement that voters have a street address, which may disenfranchise thousands of Native Americans who live on reservations.

Related content:

A story from this American Indian reservation has important lessons for America’s young voter turnout problem

How do we get more young people to vote as adults? Cash transfers to their parents could help

How North Dakota is keeping Native Americans from voting in the midterms

Family Income and the Intergenerational Transmission of Voting Behavior: Evidence from an Income Intervention (NBER working paper)

For more special Brookings Cafeteria episodes about the 2018 midterms, visit the BCP page. Also, more research and analysis from Brookings experts about the elections are here.

Thanks to audio producer Gaston Reboredo with assistance from Mark Hoelscher, and to producers Brennan Hoban and Chris McKenna. Additional support comes from Jessica Pavone, Eric Abalahin, Camilo Ramirez, Emily Horne, and our interns Tim Madden and Churon Bernier.

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The Brookings Cafeteria is a part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

2018 Midterm Elections

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