How Income Affects Voting Behavior

Overtime political scientist and researchers have gathered information dealing with voting behaviors and trends. The analysis of those factors have pointed to the importance of income, race, education, religion and parental influence on party identification. In this literature the focus will solely be on the effects of income, race and education on political party identification. A person’s income has become a main focal point when determining a persons voting behavior, especially when put into certain social classes such as, low-income, middle-class, and upper-class. Brooks and Brady (1999) conducted research on how people vote when certain issues are on the ballot, specifically income based topics. In this experiment they used presidential

Taxes are seen different in each party. The Democratic Party wants to lower the taxes on the poor and raise on the wealthy; whereas the Republican Party wants to limit taxes for all. Brooks and Brady (1999) found that wealthier citizens are more likely to side with the Republican Party when a Democratic administration is currently in office. People of lower income are unlikely to see taxes as a problem under a Democratic administration. Brooks and Brady found that this would create a relationship between income and voter choice. Such a relationship implies that income affects voting choice by shaping voters' evaluations of taxes as an important problem. Garand (2010) conducted a similar experiment to Brooks and Brady’s. in Garand’s experiment he was also able to see a correlation between income and party identification. Garand stated, “Low-income individuals differ from high-income individuals … support for taxation levels and different kinds of taxes” Garand noted that income inequality is the biggest reason why low-income families tend to vote Democrat. Another trigger mentioned by Brooks and Brady (1999) dealt with unemployment. People who are unemployed are almost certain to be in a lower social class.