A new policy brief by the UCLA Center for
Health Policy Research shows that California
adults who in are good health with little psychological distress are more
likely to consistently vote in local, state and national elections than those with
physical or psychological health issues.
The brief, which uses data from the center’s 2017 and 2018 California
Health Interview Survey, also provides evidence
that state residents who vote tend to live in more advantaged communities than
those who don’t. The authors note that these disparities in voting may make it
less likely that the needs of less healthy and more disadvantaged Californians
are being heard and addressed.
The percentage
of adults who reported always voting was highest among those who said they were
in excellent or very good health (40.9%) and who had experienced no
psychological distress in the past year (40.1%), the authors found. Among those
in fair or poor health, 32.7% said they always voted, while only 23.3% of
respondents who had experienced psychological distress voted consistently.
“We found differences in voting by health and neighborhood
factors that suggest that people who vote are healthier, have better access to
health care and live in more cohesive and safer neighborhoods than those who
don’t vote,” said Susan Babey, lead author of the
study and a senior research scientist at the center. “These differences in
civic activities such as voting could contribute to policies that fail to meet
the health needs of Californians who are less healthy, face barriers in access
to health care and live in disadvantaged communities, which may in turn lead to
greater inequities in health.”
While the study looked at
adult Californians who are U.S. citizens and likely eligible to vote, the
findings indicate that approximately 400,000 of these residents believe they are
ineligible. Factors such as age, race and ethnicity, education, and income were
shown to play a role in this belief, according to the study’s authors.
Latinos, individuals in
Generation X (ages 38 to 53), those with less than a high school education and those
in the lowest income group (0% to 99% of the federal poverty level) were most
likely to report that not being eligible was the main reason they were not
registered to vote. Among those who said they weren’t registered because they
didn’t know how or where to register, the percentage was highest for Asian
citizens (11.7%) and those with limited English proficiency (14.2%).
“Many California adults
offered reasons for not being registered, such as incorrectly believing they
are not eligible to vote or not knowing how to register, that could be
addressed with targeted voter engagement efforts,” Babey said. “Importantly,
these reasons were more likely to be offered by groups that already experience health
inequities, including low-income adults, those with limited English
proficiency, Latinos and Asians.”
Other key findings
include:
· Those who live in areas
that have high levels of social cohesion — defined as a sense of connectedness
and unity among neighbors — reported higher rates of always voting (49.5%) than
those in areas with low cohesion (27.5%).
· Respondents who perceived
their neighborhoods as safe all of the time were most likely to report that
they always vote (43%) while those who felt their neighborhoods were mostly
unsafe were least likely (23.2%).
· Nearly 9 in 10 U.S.-born
and naturalized citizens in California reported that they are registered to
vote. Among those registered, 44% said they always vote in presidential, state
and local elections; 17% said they frequently vote; 34% said they vote
sometimes; and 5% said they never vote.
“We recommend a
combination of strategies to increase participation in voting and other
activities,” said Joelle Wolstein, co-author of the study
and a research scientist at the center. “These include providing civics
education and preregistration opportunities in settings such as high schools
and supporting integrated voter-engagement activities, both during and between
elections, including get-out-the-vote efforts, education and issue advocacy.”
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research is one of the nation's leading health policy research centers and the premier source of health policy information for California. The Center improves the public's health through high quality, objective, and evidence-based research and data that informs effective policymaking. The Center is the home of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and is part of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. For more information, visit healthpolicy.ucla.edu.