al voters from this vital civil duty and right. Other factors including have also affected the interest of citizens in elections and in government in general.
McDonald and Popkin (2001) undertook a statistical study to determine if the often-touted assertion that voter turnout has been in decline over the past half-century is valid. These analysts suggest that while an extensive body of literature (theoretical as well as empirical) has been generated around the
Issue, there is no definitive explanation for this phenomenon or any fully convincing proof that a meaningful decline is underway. The problem as seen by McDonald and Popkin (2001) is that contrary to the conventional wisdom, voters are not "disappearing." What suggests that this is taking place is the method used to calculate potential voter turnout.
McDonald and Popkin (2001) argued that the apparent decline in voter turnout since 1972 is related to the use of the voting age population (VAP) to calculate the turnout rate. The VAP includes people who are ineligible to vote (e.g., non-citizens, felons, and the mentally incompetent) while failing to those living overseas but otherwise eligible. The VAP therefore is substantially different from the actual eligible population. Using statistical analysis, McDonald and Popkin (2001) calculated an accurate estimate of the true voting eligible population (VEP) from the VAP. Their data demonstrates that since 1972, the ineligible population is growing faster than the eligible population which gives rise to the perception that voter participation is declining.
Conversely, Warren Miller and Merrill Shanks (1996) take the position that the younger voters becoming eligible to vote are choosing not to vote in larger numbers than evident in any previous generation. The typical American voter is a baby boomer or an individual that is older or only slightly younger. Younger voters û those recently turning 18 û are l...