David vs. Goliath of voter turnout: Why is the participation in EU elections so low?

Item Type Digital Resource
Abstract The European Parliament election is one of the most significant elections in the world based on both the sheer number of entitled voters and the international significance of the parliament and its policies. The election turnout increased at the EU election 2019 for the first time in history. However, it seems that European citizens in the past have not realized the importance of this supranational election. So far, in all eight election cycles before the 2019 EU election the voter turnout has continued to decline leading to an all-time low of 42.62% in 2014. This is remarkable, especially because the Eurobarometer, which measures public opinion in relation to the EU, indicates that the reputation of the European Union in most of member states is constantly improving (European Commission, 2013 & 2018). While the turnout rates of national and European elections have decreased constantly over the decades, the turnout at the European election is on average 20-25% lower than for national elections. Although with the estimations of voter turnout at the EU election 2019 (≈50%) the gap is still above 15 % on average. What are the main reason for this discrepancies and what can we do about it?
Authors Gasser, Florian
Language English
Keywords European Election; Voter Turnout; Second Order Election; Voter Fatique; Spitzenkandidaten process; European Parliament Election 2019
Subjects social sciences
political science
HSG Classification contribution to scientific community
Date 29 May 2019
Publisher EUreka! EURAC Blog
Place of Publication https://blogs.eurac.edu/eu-elections/david-vs-goliath-of-voter-turnout-why-is-the-participation-in-eu-elections-so-low/
Official URL https://www.eurac.edu/en/blogs/eureka/david-vs-gol...
Depositing User Florian Gasser
Date Deposited 29 May 2019 14:10
Last Modified 20 Jul 2022 17:38
URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/publications/257100

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Gasser, Florian: David vs. Goliath of voter turnout: Why is the participation in EU elections so low?. URL:https://www.eurac.edu/en/blogs/eureka/david-vs-gol... . EUreka! EURAC Blog (29 May 2019).

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https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/id/eprint/257100
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