Deliberative Democracy: Data Sources
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APPENDIX I TO “DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY:
AN EMPIRICAL NOTE”
Data Sources
Voter Turnout:
 Total VAP refers to the total Voting Age Population as reported by the
Bureau of Census in their Current Population Reports, Series P-25. It
is important to note that the VAP includes all persons over the age of 18
-- including a significant number of persons who are ineligible to vote in
federal elections including legal and illegal aliens, persons under sentence of a felony conviction and those individuals who have been declared non compos mentis by a court of law. The VAP is therefore considerably larger than the pool of potential voters.
 Total REG refers to the total number of registered voters as reported
by the States where known. These figures may be somewhat inflated
owing to the different purging policies in the States (prior to enactment
of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993) which caused "deadwood" to remain on the files for extended periods.
 Percent REG of VAP is the percentage of total voting age population
that is registered to vote.
 Percent T/O of VAP refers to the percentage of the voting age population who cast a vote for the office of president.
 Turnout refers to the vote cast for the highest office on the ballot.
These figures no doubt under-report actual voter participation since
research suggests that approximately 2% of the voters consistently fail
to vote for the highest office.
 N/A means Not Applicable.
 UNK means Unknown.
Educational Attainment:
 Data are taken for each decennial year and extrapolated.
 2000
o Data source: Educational Attainment of the Population 25 Years
and Over, by State, Including Confidence Intervals of Estimates:
March 2000
o available
at:
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/education/p20536.html
 1990
o Data Source: Educational Attainment of All Persons 25 and older, Census of Population and Housing Characteristics (ha201
1990 ap)
 1980
Deliberative Democracy: Data Sources
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o Data source: 1980 U.S. Census Population & Housing Characteristics (ha201 1980.N56)
1970 & 1960
o Data source: State and Metropolitan Area Data Book 1979: A
statistical abstract Supplement, pg. 23
Educational Enrollment:
 The data are found in Digest of Education Statistics (volume years
1966 through 2002), National Center for Education Statistics, W.
Vance Grant and Thomas D. Snyder.
 The data details the number of individuals enrolled in public school
grades 9 through 12 at that time (HS), the number of undergrads enrolled (UG), and the number of graduate students enrolled (GRAD).
Per Capita Income:
 Data reflects per capita incomes per state and is taken from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
 Per capita personal income is the total personal income divided by total midyear population.
 The numbers not adjusted for inflation.
Per Capita adjusted income
 Adjusted using CPI, index years 1982-1984 from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics
 http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost
Electoral Votes (closeness of election)
 Data were taken from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
web
page.
http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/votes/index.h
tml#state
 This variable is the ratio of electoral votes for the winning candidate to
the total number of electoral votes.
Votes Ratio:
 vote ratio, which is the percent of individuals in a state that voted for
the winning candidate
 Data were taken from Alice V. McGillivray “America at the Polls-1960-2000, John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush: A Handbook of American Presidential Election Statistics” 2001.
Caucuses, Primaries, Other.
Deliberative Democracy: Data Sources
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Data for 1968-2000 was taken from Harold W. Stanley & Richard G. Niemi,
Vital Statistics on American Politics 2003-2004. Pg 69-70.
The original data were more detailed than what is in the current database. In
order to create the database all types of primaries were treated as equal.
States that have nonbinding presidential preference primaries, but use party
caucuses or conventions to choose delegates were treated as Caucuses/Conventions. States that have party committees were listed as 'other'.
Thus the types of nominating processes in the database are primaries, caucuses/conventions and 'other.' Each process as listed by Stanley and Niemi
was entered into the database. For example, in 1968 NY is listed as having
both a primary and a committee nominating processes. Both were entered.
The original categories as presented by Stanley and Niemi are as follows: 1.
Delegates that were chosen by state and local caucuses and conventions; 2.
Delegates chosen by state party committee 3. Delegates chosen directly by
voters in primaries with non binding presidential preference poll; 4. Delegates chosen or bound by presidential preference primaries open to all registered voters with no regard for party preregistration; 5. Delegates chosen or
bound by presidential preference primaries open only to voters preregistered
as member of the particular parties; 6. Delegates chosen or bound by presidential preference primaries open only to voters preregistered as members of
the particular parties or as Independents. 7. Having nonbinding presidential
preference primaries, but delegates are chosen by party caucus and conventions;
For 1960 and 1964 information on primaries was taken from the Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections. Third Edition. If no primary information was listed then it was assumed that the state held a caucus. Occasionally no primary was authorized because the republican or democratic
candidate was running unopposed. These instances are noted in the database.
Multi party Caucus:
 Based on Caucus, Primary, Other data. (see above)
 1 if one party uses a caucuses, 2 if both parties use a caucus, 0 if neither party uses a caucus
D_caucus
 Variable takes value of both parties has a caucus, 0 otherwise.
% HG, % UG, % Black, %Age 20-24,
 Take the core value and divide by the total population.
 For example HG/Total
Deliberative Democracy: Data Sources
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Note that this percentage is the percent of individuals with high school
out of the total population; not the percent of the voting population
with high school
%Age 60 and higher
 Add age groups 60-85+ divided by total population
 Note that this percentage is the percent of individuals with high school
out of the total population; not the percent of the voting population
with high school
Race:
Data were compiled into three categories—white (both white Hispanic and
white nonhispanic), black (both Hispanic and non Hispanic), and other. The
other category comprises American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Asians, Native
Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders Alone, and those individuals that report themselves as having two or more race groups.
Age & Sex:
 Data were taken from the Census—see below.
 Age data are broken into 5 year age intervals until the age of 85. At
that point individuals are grouped into the category 85 years and older.
1960
 Data
for
race
and
sex
is
available
at
http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/censr-4.pdf.
 Age data are taken from the statistical abstract of the U.S.
1964 & 1968
 Data for age, sex, and race is unavailable.
1970-1979
 Sex, Age, and Race data obtained from a the data file PE-19. You need
to request this file from the census itself. There are only three categories of race listed: white, black, and other.
1980
 Data
for
age
is
available
at:
http://eire.census.gov/popest/archives/1980.php, data reflects information from 7/1/80.
 Data for race and sex was taken from 1980 census data available at:
http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/censr-4.pdf pg 175-179, 188-189,
data reflects 4/1/80
1981-1989
 Data are available at: http://eire.census.gov/popest/archives/1980.php
 Contains 2 ethnicity groups (Non-Hispanic and Hispanic)
 Contains 8 race groups
1= White
2= Black
Deliberative Democracy: Data Sources
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3= American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut
4= Asian, Pacific Islander
1990-1999
 Data are available at: http://eire.census.gov/popest/archives/1990.php
 Contains 2 ethnicity groups (Non Hispanic and Hispanic)
 Contains 4 race groups
1. White
2. Black
3. American Indian or Alaska Native
4. Asian and Pacific Islander
2000-2002
 Data
are
available
at:
http://eire.census.gov/popest/data/states/stasro.php
 Contains two ethnicity groups (Hispanic and Non-Hispanic)
 Contains six race codes. Not strictly comparable.
1 = White Alone
2 = Black Alone
3 = American Indian or Alaskan Native Alone
4 = Asian Alone
5 = Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders Alone
6 = Two or More Race Groups
2003
 Data will be available in the summer 2004.