It is a well-established axiom in politics that young people consistently vote at lower rates than older adults. This gap has consumed much of the work in political behavior, with no obvious solution for the disparity. The majority of research has focused on examining the causes of this voting gap and searching for improvements with such resources as political knowledge and verbal skills—which are considered necessary cognitive abilities for increasing voter turnout.
However, John Holbein and D. Sunshine Hillygus argue that those wishing to understand why youth turnout is consistently low and what can be done about it should not be looking at cognitive abilities, which they show have minimal effect on increasing youth voter participation and have done little to reduce the voting age gap. Rather, noncognitive skills—those capabilities or competencies related to self-regulation, effortfulness, and interpersonal interactions—are better determinants of voter turnout than cognitive abilities. Individuals, and especially young people, who have well developed noncognitive skills are more likely to vote.
This book makes an important contribution to the literature on voting behavior and political participation. It introduces a concept that, although more commonly examined in other fields, is relatively nascent in political science. The novelty of how noncognitive skills may influence voter behavior, especially as an alternative to the well-established work on cognitive factors, sets a high bar for convincing readers that this concept is a better measure for understanding voter turnout. Although the authors concede that the book is a “first pass” at this effort, it is a timely and well-developed introduction; most importantly, it serves as a call to arms for political scientists to engage in acknowledging the importance of noncognitive skills in civic participation and to expand the conceptualization, measurement, and application of these skills.
Why do young people vote at lower rates than older adults? Why are noncognitive skills so important to understanding this turnout gap, and how can these skills be better developed and applied to help mitigate the long-term trend? The introductory chapter offers some general answers to these questions and provides a nice hook for the systematic analysis that follows. Holbein and Hillygus note that little is known about why youth turnout is low and what can and should be done about it. They make the case that young people are not uninterested in politics or in voting, often expressing strong intentions to cast their vote. However, they argue that voting is similar to other life goals (e.g., healthy eating) that are riddled with personal and institutional obstacles (costs) that need to be overcome in order to follow through on intentions. Overcoming these obstacles is more difficult for individuals participating in the voting process for the first time. Here is where noncognitive skills can make a difference—those with these types of resources are better able to overcome obstacles and be successful in converting intentions into actions.
The authors proceed with emphasizing that most theories of voter turnout are focused on vote intention or how cognitive-based resources determine the ability to vote. Holbein and Hillygus use these resource-based models as a jumping-off point to push for a more comprehensive take on the costs of voting. One very commendable part of this narrative is the use of qualitative semistructured interviews with young citizens and civic teachers in North Carolina to drive home these costs. These interviews confirm that the higher costs of voting among young people include confusion about mechanical aspects of registering and voting and display the mismatch between what teachers believe to be hurdles (knowledge-based resources) and what students perceive as obstacles.
The middle part of the book offers a deeper dive into defining and measuring noncognitive skills. The authors take a cautious approach to this endeavor; they do not offer a precise delimitation for the conceptual boundaries of noncognitive skills. Instead, they present “noncognitive skills” as an umbrella term designed to capture a group of overlapping constructs. The purpose is to provide enough of an explanation of these constructs for practitioners to apply them to political participation and to show their influence in the act of voting. To do this, the authors rely on nine different existing data sources that include longitudinal surveys, school administrative records, and voter registration files.
Holbein and Hillygus also extend their analysis with the use of several survey experiments to explore the mechanisms that connect noncognitive skills and voting. Ties to the mechanism at work are a bit more preliminary, but the suggestive connection appears to be education. In other words, education, especially early in life, enhances noncognitive skills that make voting and other life tasks easier. Much of the remainder of the book discusses how to improve the current education system—which, as the authors argue, is presently failing to help young people develop the noncognitive skills they need to become voters—and how to lower electoral barriers to voting. On the former, the authors call for a refocus on a civics curriculum that does not simply teach knowledge and facts, but institutes active learning to improve noncognitive skills. On the latter, they point to the effectiveness of reforms such as preregistration and same-day registration in reducing the costs of voting. The conclusion is that increasing voter turnout among young voters requires overcoming both personal and institutional obstacles and adopting electoral and educational reforms.
I was convinced early on about the contours of the intention–behavior voting gap and the authors’ proposition for closing this disparity, as well as by the extensive data sources and methods they bring to bear on their analysis. Although not ideal, and heavily reliant on education rather than political participation data, it is a good start in an area of research that requires significantly greater attention and investment.
As with any thought-provoking book, however, this one left me wanting a bit more information on a few fronts. First, I wish the authors had spent more space addressing how forms of civic engagement other than voting are subject to the noncognitive skills thesis, because the overall goal is to make better democratic citizens. Second, there is a tendency in the book (perhaps unintentionally) to treat young people monolithically. Formative characteristics and experiences vary across racial, ethnic, and even generational groups that likely contribute to the development of noncognitive skills. These factors should be more systematically considered. Finally, an important remaining question is how much electoral reforms can counter the necessity for improved noncognitive skills (or vice versa) in closing the youth voting gap. The book argues for investment in both, but in the real world where trade-offs exist, it is important to have a better understanding of the potential relative success in outcomes. Yet anyone interested in increasing youth civic engagement should heed the call to explore the role of noncognitive skills in the participatory process, with Making Young Voters serving as a vital roadmap in the investigation.
