La Mobilisation Electorale En 2012

In: Revue française de science politique, Band 63, Heft 2

Abstract

The French can no longer be described as systematic voters. Intermittent voting has become the order of the day with the presidential election being the only one that continues to have broad appeal. In the 2012 presidential election, the strong level of turnout broke with the cycle of abstention that had characterized all mid-term elections during Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency. Nevertheless, compared to the 2007 presidential election, turnout decreased among all sections of the population. This article draws on recent electoral surveys conducted by the Cevipof to examine changes in electoral turnout according to the sociological and political characteristics of the different electorates. Comparing the last three presidential elections (2002, 2007 and 2012), it evaluates the share of sociological and the share of political abstention. More broadly, this article reconsiders the principle explanations for turnout models, attempting to make the diverse motives for voting versus non-voting understandable. Adapted from the source document.