ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the impact of the central institution of the American system—the separation of powers—on turnout. It focuses on citizen attitudes and divided government and shows how this relationship affects turnout. As Mark N. Franklin notes, the United States is the only nation with a true separation of powers system and one of two nations with voluntary voter registration. Using the 1948–2002 National Election Study (NES) cumulative file, the chapter identifies measurable attitudes that should be affected by divided government and are related to the probability of voting. Citizens who believe that the government is not responsive to the demands of the electorate will likely turn away from politics. Interest in politics appears to have a fairly strong impact on the probability of voting. Respondents who stated that they were "very much interested" in the current campaign had a six percentage point higher probability of reporting a vote than respondents who stated that they were "not much interested".
