Planning to vote? It's in your genes
Story By: Bea Karnes
Source: AP
Biology may be the biggest factor in determining whether people actually vote.
The decision to vote is partly genetic, according to research published in American Political Science Review. The study was published by researchers at the University of Southern California and University of California, San Diego. It reports that genes influence participation in elections and other political activities.
Two of the researchers have published a separate study showing a link between two specific genes and political participation. They show that people with a variant of one gene were significantly more likely to vote in the 2000 presidential election. The researchers used voter turnout records in Los Angeles and matched them to a registry of identical and non-identical twins. the results show that 53 per cent of the variation in voter turnout is due to the differences in genes.
