The Newly Registered Voter and the Political System.

Given the great interest heaped upon the role of new voters in the 2008 presidential election, this paper is timely, in that it draws upon a unique survey of Ohio voters, including those who registered to vote just prior to the 2004 presidential election. This paper paints a statistical portrait of the newly registered voter and compares this creature to her previously registered counterpart on indicators such as: socioeconomics, attitudinal measures of efficacy and citizen engagement, political engagement, ideology and psychological attachment to a party, political communication with primary and secondary social groups, and a host of other variables measured in the survey. In general, it is found that the newly registered voter, save for those eligible to vote for the first time, score less on measures of civic and political engagement and attitudes that predict political participation than the previously registered voter, leading one to question their importance in elections in which they are touted as integral to victory. To that end, the voting behavior of the newly registered of 2004 is tracked, on through to the 2008 presidential election, and includes behavior in the 2006 midterm. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]