عوامل مؤثر بر مشاركت شهروندان در انتخابات رياست جمهوري و مجلس؛ مطالعه موردي شهر تهران

A Survey of Factors Affecting Voting Behavior of People Residing in Tehran

Voting is one of the most important modes of citizen participation in politics. The study of voting behavior including motivations of people to participate in elections, constitute an essential field of inquiry in political sociology. This article is based on a survey of people residing in Tehran and is designed to measure the impact of a number of "social resources" and "motivations" deemed important in encouraging people to vote in elections. The motivations which are strongly correlated with regular participation at the polls include "strengthening national solidarity," "following the supreme leader," supporting the Islamic Republic," and "religious duty." In other words, those respondents who indicated a strong propensity to participate in all kinds of elections rated these items higher in their list of issues that motivate them to participate in elections. In line with patterns observed in other countries, "religiosity", "political trust", "political efficacy", and "interest in politics" are significantly correlated with voting participation. Income and education are social resources that, in contrast to most other countries, did not show any significant relationship with voting participation in Iran.