Cross-sectional Associations between Civic Engagement and Voting Behavior in a Rural Setting
Abstract
Background: Social capital is an individual and community-level resource that can be leveraged to promote health and well-being. Understanding aspects of social capital, such as voting behavior and civic engagement, including how they are associated, is important for harnessing their potential to impact community health and advance health equity in rural communities. This study aims to assess levels and types of community engagement and associations with voting behavior across various demographic groups.
Methods: The Two Georgias Initiative was a five-year place-based grantmaking program designed to support community coalitions that seek to advance health equity in rural Georgia. For this analysis, data were collected from randomly selected households in five rural Georgia counties (n=1,314) through a mail-in population survey from December 2018 to May 2019.
Results: Among the respondents, of which 48.5% were aged 35-64, 67.9% were women, 27.3% identified as Black, and 41.5% had a high school degree or less, there were marked differences in level of civic engagement (e.g. attend a political meeting) and voting activity by gender, race, age, income, neighborhood rurality, and education. People who identify as White, college educated, or reported incomes over $50,000 were more likely to report greater civic engagement across most of the 10 dimensions assessed. For example, respondents with an annual household income of over $50,000 had 3.97 times the odds of getting together to fix a problem or doing something positive for the community relative to respondents with a household of $20,000 or less (CI=2.82-5.59). Additionally, respondents with a college education had 2.23 times the odds of voting in the last local election (CI: 1.67-2.98).
Conclusion: Given the role of civic engagement, and especially voting, in shaping policies and laws that promote or constrain health, interventions should attempt to decrease disparities in civic engagement and advance initiatives that increase voting access.
Keywords
Civic engagement, voting, health equity, social capital
Cross-sectional Associations between Civic Engagement and Voting Behavior in a Rural Setting
Background: Social capital is an individual and community-level resource that can be leveraged to promote health and well-being. Understanding aspects of social capital, such as voting behavior and civic engagement, including how they are associated, is important for harnessing their potential to impact community health and advance health equity in rural communities. This study aims to assess levels and types of community engagement and associations with voting behavior across various demographic groups.
Methods: The Two Georgias Initiative was a five-year place-based grantmaking program designed to support community coalitions that seek to advance health equity in rural Georgia. For this analysis, data were collected from randomly selected households in five rural Georgia counties (n=1,314) through a mail-in population survey from December 2018 to May 2019.
Results: Among the respondents, of which 48.5% were aged 35-64, 67.9% were women, 27.3% identified as Black, and 41.5% had a high school degree or less, there were marked differences in level of civic engagement (e.g. attend a political meeting) and voting activity by gender, race, age, income, neighborhood rurality, and education. People who identify as White, college educated, or reported incomes over $50,000 were more likely to report greater civic engagement across most of the 10 dimensions assessed. For example, respondents with an annual household income of over $50,000 had 3.97 times the odds of getting together to fix a problem or doing something positive for the community relative to respondents with a household of $20,000 or less (CI=2.82-5.59). Additionally, respondents with a college education had 2.23 times the odds of voting in the last local election (CI: 1.67-2.98).
Conclusion: Given the role of civic engagement, and especially voting, in shaping policies and laws that promote or constrain health, interventions should attempt to decrease disparities in civic engagement and advance initiatives that increase voting access.
