Household Effect in Turnout in the Czech Republic

Household effects on electoral participation are understudied. We know that they exist (Buton, Lemercier, Mariot 2012; Bhatti, Hansen 2012; Partheymüller, Schmitt-Beck 2012), but we know very little about the reasons behind those effects. Past research relies mainly on correlation in turnout of household members, thus it is difficult to establish whether spouses mobilize each other or marry similar others. Moreover, very little attention is given to the difference between household effects on the electoral participation of spouses and household effects on children living with parents. In addition, there is also no knowledge of household effects beyond advanced democracies. In this paper, we utilise first wave of the Czech household panel to analyse household effects on turnout in the post-communist country. First, we establish the level of household effects on turnout, both on the spouses and children. Second, we explain part of those effects by social and attitudinal homogeneity of the households. Third, we show the effect of sense of civic duty of the household member on the spouse without this belief. Our research shows that household members have similar electoral participation not only because of self-selection and social and attitudinal homogeneity, but also because of mobilizing effects within households.