ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how generational differences have emerged, both in the United States and in other established democracies. The 2012 American National Election Study found that people under the age of 30 were the most likely to feel that voting is a choice rather than a duty. Providing insight into turnout problems in countries, attitudes concerning civic duty among recent entrants into the electorate may well provide a window into the future. A generation who is relatively unlikely to see voting as an important civic responsibility is one who may well have many of its members lost as voters for the rest of its duration. The scholars who designed the first major cross-national surveys were very concerned with the question of how people viewed the responsibilities of citizenship. The chapter presents data regarding the frequency with which respondents of different age groups said that political participation was an important citizen duty.
