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The Effect of Identity-Based GOTV Direct Mail Appeals on the Turnout of Indian Americans
Neema Trivedi
Yale University
This article presents the results of a randomized field experiment testing the effectiveness of three different identity-based appeals communicated via direct mail to registered Indian American voters in Queens County. The appeals made salient different identities: the voter as a U.S. citizen, a U.S. citizen and a person of color, or a U.S. citizen and an Indian American. The experiment informs the understanding of voter mobilization more generally and assists Indian American organizers in their efforts to incorporate the community into the U.S. political system. The findings show that a single mailing seems to have little effect on the turnout rates of Indian American voters, although there is some evidence that multiple mailings may have had some effect. None of the identity appeals were especially effective at bolstering turnout.
Key Words: direct mail • voter mobilization • Indian American voters • field experiment • GOTV • Queens • New York • ethnic identity • panethnic • South Asian
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The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 601, No. 1,
115-122 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/000271620527860
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[Abstract]
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