The new electoral power brokers: macro and micro level effects of 'born free' South Africans on voter turnout
ABSTRACT The emergence of a born free South African generation holds significant implications for voter turnout. At the macro level, the youth bulge has changed aggregate turnout patterns, supporting Franklin's (2004) Voter turnout and the dynamics of electoral competition in established democracies since 1945. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press] argument that demographics shifts produce changes in aggregate political behaviour even when individuals do not change their behaviour. At the micro level, born free South Africans exhibit attitudinal and cognitive differences from their older, partisan led counterparts when deciding to vote, lending some support to Dalton's (1984) Cognitive mobilization and partisan dealignment in advanced industrial democracies. The Journal of Politics, 46(1) 264 284] cognitive mobilisation thesis.
Commonwealth Comparative Politics