Structural Analysis of Electoral Abstention in the 2014 European Parliamentary Elections

Abstract

Electoral abstention in second-order elections has been an area of relative
interest in political science research, especially in the case of elections to
the European Parliament. These types of elections present a number of
specific features regarding motives for abstention. Beyond the traditional
interpretations related to contextual and socio-demographic factors, we
examine a number of components that are attitudinal in nature, related to
punishment and electoral experimentation, and that are the result of
political disaffection. In order to explore these factors, we have
constructed a structural equation model (SEM) that describes and
explains the specific effect of each of these components on the
participation of the Spanish electorate in the May 2014 European
Parliamentary elections.