Unemployment and Voter Turnout

The higher the unemployment rate, the greater the voter turnout for state and congressional races, according to a new NBER study. Because the unemployed have more leisure time than the employed, they are more informed about state and local candidates and more likely to vote. Interestingly, the unemployment rate does not affect the percentage who vote for president, say the study's authors, because presidential campaign information is ubiquitous (to put it mildly).

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 17270, $5