There's one big data problem with the turnout decline thesis: Michael McDonald and others have pointed out that the surge in immigration since 1965 has added many non-citizens to the denominator usually employed to determine turnout. If they're excluded from the denominator, then the turnout decline since 1960 is much more modest. Which denominator did Patterson use?
There's also a striking paradox. In the 50s, there was much less difference between the parties in Congress or the state legislatures than there is now. Not since Reconstruction have the parties differed so systematically on so many issues. Yet many voters seem to see less difference than voters used to see, not more. Is this because recent pundits sneer at all politicians and networks and newspapers don't report as much about Congress and legislatures as they did in the 30s and 40s?
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