Title:      Two Genes Predict Voter Turnout

Authors:    James Fowler, Christopher Dawes

Entrydate:  2007-11-26 11:10:29

Keywords:   

Abstract:   Fowler, Baker, and Dawes (2007) recently showed in
two independent studies of twins that voter turnout has very
high heritability.  Here we investigate two specific genes that
may contribute to this heritability via their impact on
neurochemical processes that influence social behavior.  Using
data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health,
we show that a polymorphism of the MAOA gene significantly
increases the likelihood of voting.  We also find evidence of a
gene-environment interaction between religious attendance and a
polymorphism of the 5HTT gene that significantly increases voter
turnout. These are the first results to ever link specific genes
to political behavior and they suggest that political scientists
should take seriously the claim that at least some variation in
political behavior is due to innate predispositions.

http://polmeth.wustl.edu/retrieve.php?id=724

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