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The public's perception of the personal attributes of presidential candidates is studied. Data from the 1952 to 1984 National Election Studies are analyzed, using a measure derived from 4 open-ended questions about Rs' likes & dislikes regarding presidential candidates. According to the findings, the better educated are more concerned with the candidates' attributes than the less educated, & are equally concerned with superficial or trivial attributes as the less educated. The general assumption that better educated voters are more concerned with political issues than with personal characteristics is contradicted. 6 Tables, 1 Appendix, 21 References. K. Carande

Based on data from the National Election Studies of the University of Michigan Center for Political Studies, 1952-84. Effects of the respondents' level of education.

Voter turnout in the United States is much lower than in almost all other democratic countries. This has been interpreted as a symptom of popular alienation from the political system, suspicion of politicians, and pessimism about the consequences of political activity. When these perspectives are measured directly, however, it is clear that Americans score very low on almost every item. Indeed, there is no relationship between political con‐ tentment and turnout. Turnout does not reflect international variations in acceptance of politicians or the political system. Rather, it responds to variations in the bureaucratic steps required to cast a ballot. The United States is one of a handful of countries that require a separate step–registra‐ tion–before the citizen can vote; and with the partial exception of France it is the only country in which the individual rather than the state bears the responsibility for registration.

We examine the characteristics of a largely ignored low-turnout group—people who have recently moved. We find that neither demographic nor attitudinal attributes explain their lower turnout. Instead, the requirement that citizens must register anew after each change in residence constitutes the key stumbling block in the trip to the polls. Since nearly one-third of the nation moves every two years, moving has a large impact on national turnout rates. We offer a proposal to reduce the effect of residential mobility on turnout and estimate that turnout would increase by nine percentage points if the impact of moving could be removed. The partisan consequences of such a change would be marginal.