Differential Abstention in Catalonia and the Community of Madrid: A Socio-political Explanation of an Urban Phenomenon

Abstract

Differences in turnout between general and regional elections in Spain reveal
two recurrent characteristics: they are highest in the regions of Catalonia and
Madrid and tend to be concentrated in the metropolitan areas of the cities of
Barcelona and Madrid. What explains these two regional patterns? To explain
this phenomenon, this article contributes new elements, using census data at
the tract level. The main conclusion is that the demobilization observed in
regional elections is related to certain characteristics of the socio-demographic
structure of the metropolitan areas in these two regions: a higher presence of
young voters, higher unemployment and a higher percentage of the electorate
born outside their region of residence. In addition, a political factor, support for
the socialist party, also appears to be an important element in explaining this
differential abstention. The combination of all these factors provides a clearer
picture of those who abstain in regional elections as well as new clues to
understand the phenomenon of differential abstention.