[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-268005-105":59,"doc-detail-268005-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":124,"head_meta":126,"extra_data":128,"updated_unix":130},105,"en","which-colleges-increase-voting-rates-edworkingpaper-no-24-912","Which Colleges Increase Voting Rates - EdWorkingPaper No. 24-912","","The study examines how colleges shape students’ long-run voting habits by linking millions of SAT takers to college enrollment and validated voting histories. College-specific voting rates vary systematically with institutional attributes such as selectivity, yet similar colleges can still differ sharply. After adjusting for application portfolios and prior voting propensity, attending a college with a 10 percentage-point higher voting rate raises entrants’ voting probability by 4 percentage points, an effect that begins in college, persists afterward, and is driven mainly by higher-rate colleges creating new voters rather than peer influence.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/which-colleges-increase-voting-rates-edworkingpaper-no-24-912/268005/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/which-colleges-increase-voting-rates-edworkingpaper-no-24-912/268005.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Levi","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-18","2026-09-14",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",13,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What data and linkage strategy does the paper use?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"It links high school testing cohorts (PSAT, SAT, and AP takers) from 2004 to 2012 to college enrollment records and then to validated voting histories for general elections from 2004 to 2016.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"How do college characteristics relate to students’ voting rates?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"Relative voting rates differ by college attributes—especially selectivity—so relatively selective four-year colleges have higher voting rates than two-year colleges.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"What is the estimated impact of attending a higher-voting-rate college?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"Attending a college with a 10 percentage-point higher voting rate increases entrants’ voting probability by 4 percentage points (about 10 percent). The effect emerges during college, persists afterward, and is largely explained by higher-voting-rate colleges generating new voters.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},268005,1789427532,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":21,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":130,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},7971461740909,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","EdWorkingPaper No. 24-912  \nWhich Colleges Increase Voting Rates?  \nD'Wayne Bell  \nHarvard University  \nJohn B. Holbein  \nUniversity of Virginia  \nSamuel Imlay Jonathan Smith  \nCollege Board Georgia State  \nUniversity  \nWe study how colleges shape their students'voting habits by linking millions of SAT takers to their  \ncollege-enrollment and voting histories. To begin, we show that the fraction of students from a particular college who vote varies systematically by the college's attributes (e.g. increasing with selectivity) but also that seemingly similar colleges can have markedly different voting rates. Next, after controlling for students' college application portfolios and pre-college voting behavior, we find that attending a college with a 10  \npercentage-point higher voting rate increases entrants' probability of voting by 4 percentage points (10 percent). This effect arises during college, persists after college, and is almost entirely driven by higher voting-rate colleges making new voters. College peers' initial voting propensity plays no discernible role.  \nVERSION: February 2024  \nSuggested citation: Bell, D'Wayne, John B. Holbein, Samuel Imlay, and Jonathan Smith. (2024). Which Colleges Increase Voting Rates?. (EdWorkingPaper: 24-912). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: [https://doi.org/10.26300/xhk7-dg17](https://doi.org/10.26300/xhk7-dg17)  \nWhich Colleges Increase Voting Rates?  \nBy D’Wayne Bell, John B. Holbein, Samuel J. Imlay, and Jonathan  \nSmith∗  \nWe study how colleges shape their students’ voting habits by linking millions of SAT takers to their college-enrollment and voting histories. To begin, we show that the fraction of students from a particular college who vote varies systematically by the college’s attributes (e.g. increasing with selectivity) but also that seemingly similar colleges can have markedly different voting rates. Next, after controlling for students’ college application portfolios and precollege voting behavior, we find that attending a college with a 10 percentage-point higher voting rate increases entrants’ probability of voting by 4 percentage points (10 percent) . This effect arises during college, persists after college, and is almost entirely driven by higher voting-rate colleges making new voters. College peers’initial voting propensity plays no discernible role.  \nI. Introduction  \nMass participation in elections is vital to the health of electoral democracy (e.g. , Downs, 1957; Dahl, 1973; Wolfinger and Rosenstone, 1980; Verba et al., 1995; Galston, 2004; Cascio and Washington, 2014; Gentzkow, 2006; Washington, 2006), and institutions of higher education may play an important role in the democratic process by shaping the lifelong voting habits of college-educated adults. In the United States, college-educated adults are 50 percent more likely to vote than those with only a high school diploma (Ahearn et al. , 2023; Ma and Pender, 2023), and some of this disparity is causal (e.g., Dee, 2004; Doyle and Skinner, 2017) . Indeed, creating civically engaged citizens is a core mission of higher education and a central aim of public education policy (e.g. Colby et al., 2010; Holbein and Hillygus, 2020) .  \nYet, while an abundant literature has explored the voting effects of college enrollment and degree completion (e.g. , Dee, 2004; Tenn, 2007; Kam and Palmer, 2008; Sondheimer and Green, 2010; Berinsky and Lenz, 2011; Henderson and Chatfield, 2011; Mayer, 2011; Mettler, 2005), scholars know less about how the type of college one attends shapes the voting decision (Mendelberg et al., 2021;  \n∗ Bell, Harvard University; Holbein, University of Virginia; Imlay, College Board; Smith, Georgia State University. This paper reflects the opinions of the authors and not that of their corresponding institutions or the providers of the data. We are grateful for helpful comments and assistance from Jing Feng, David Deming, Tali Mendelberg, Joshua Goodman, Kirsten Mumma, Sreyart","cbCaikGjWkzGTCqC","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikGjWkzGTCqC","pdf",1827622,"English","# Introduction\n## Research Question\n## Data and Method\n## Main Findings","[{\"question\":\"What data and linkage strategy does the paper use?\",\"answer\":\"It links high school testing cohorts (PSAT, SAT, and AP takers) from 2004 to 2012 to college enrollment records and then to validated voting histories for general elections from 2004 to 2016.\"},{\"question\":\"How do college characteristics relate to students’ voting rates?\",\"answer\":\"Relative voting rates differ by college attributes—especially selectivity—so relatively selective four-year colleges have higher voting rates than two-year colleges.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the estimated impact of attending a higher-voting-rate college?\",\"answer\":\"Attending a college with a 10 percentage-point higher voting rate increases entrants’ voting probability by 4 percentage points (about 10 percent). The effect emerges during college, persists afterward, and is largely explained by higher-voting-rate colleges generating new voters.\"}]","Which Colleges Increase Voting Rates - EdWorkingPaper No. 24-912 | PDF",176]