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7.1.D. - Page 39 <br /> Political scientists (see such literature as "surge and decline") have long considered that there are <br /> separate electorates, with different compositions, for different elections, so that midterm election <br /> voters are older and more affluent on average, than presidential election voters, primary voters <br /> are more partisan, etc. The fact that the two special elections on different initiatives (local versus <br /> statewide) in so close proximity to one another produced the same levels of turnout suggests <br /> there is another electorate for these type of elections. <br /> However, it should be noted that the correlation between the turnout of the special elections in <br /> the study is markedly lower for the s07 and s09 special elections than for the s13 special election <br /> (Tables Davis-VIA and Davis-VIB, Wessac-VIA and Wessac-VIB). It is not clear what the <br /> explanation for this is, particularly since the correlation of the other elections (including g12 and <br /> p12, or g08 and p08, or g06 and p06) is as expected, but it may have to do with the salience of <br /> the topic on the ballot. Interest in a specific election can clearly vary based on how pertinent the <br /> topic is to individual voters, how much advertising was done and how much coverage there was <br /> in the news. This change is most pronounced for the s07 election in West Sacramento, but exists <br /> in the Davis local special election and the statewide special election. It may thus be beneficial to <br /> do a more in-depth examination of the difference of these two electorates, but since this is <br /> somewhat out of the scope of the current study, this was not done at this time. It is apparent <br /> from the data, however, that turnout by the various voter characteristics analyzed in this report is <br /> relatively similar, even if there is some variation in the composition of the electorate. <br /> 33 <br />