ABSTRACT Although the genetic influence on voter turnout is substantial (typically 40–50%), the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Across the social sciences, research suggests that

‘resources for politics’ (as indexed notably by educational attainment and intelligence test performance) constitute a central cluster of factors that predict electoral participation.

Educational attainment and intelligence test performance are heritable. This suggests that the genotypes that enhance these phenotypes could positively predict turnout. To test this, we

conduct a genome-wide complex trait analysis of individual-level turnout. We use two samples from the Danish iPSYCH case–cohort study, including a nationally representative sample as well as

turnout and both educational attainment and intelligence test performance. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your

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institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS THE GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMPOSITION OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS IN NORWAY

Article Open access 14 May 2025 SOCIOECONOMIC AND GENOMIC ROOTS OF VERBAL ABILITY FROM CURRENT EVIDENCE Article Open access 09 September 2022 DECIPHERING THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIOECONOMIC

STATUS ON BRAIN STRUCTURE: INSIGHTS FROM MENDELIAN RANDOMIZATION Article Open access 13 May 2025 DATA AVAILABILITY Owing to the consent structure of the iPSYCH and Danish law, the data

cannot be shared publicly owing to its sensitive nature. The data can be accessed from secure servers59. For further information, please contact P.B.M. ([email protected]). For access to the

data in Supplementary Table 5, please contact K.M.H. ([email protected]) as these register data also cannot be shared publicly. CODE AVAILABILITY Code and scripts available from the

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(2018). Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank S. Oskarsson and members of the political behaviour research section at the

Department of Political Science, Aarhus University for comments on previous versions of this manuscript. This research was supported by the Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University (seed

grant no. 26223). The iPSYCH consortium is supported by the Lundbeck foundation (grant nos. R1-2=A9118 and R155-2014-1724). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and

analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes * These authors contributed equally: Lene Aarøe, Vivek Appadurai. AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS *

Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Lene Aarøe & Michael Bang Petersen * Institute of Biological Psychiatry, Mental Health Center Sct Hans, Roskilde,

Denmark Vivek Appadurai & Andrew J. Schork * The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Aarhus, Denmark Vivek Appadurai, Andrew J. Schork, Thomas

Werge, Ole Mors, Anders D. Børglum, David M. Hougaard, Merete Nordentoft, Preben B. Mortensen, Wesley Kurt Thompson, Alfonso Buil & Esben Agerbo * Department of Political Science,

University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Kasper M. Hansen * Institute of Biological Psychiatry, Copenhagen Mental Health Services, Copenhagen, Denmark Thomas Werge * Psychosis Research

Unit, Aarhus University Hospital—Psychiatry, Aarhus, Denmark Ole Mors * Department of Biomedicine and Centre for Integrative Sequencing, iSEQ, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Anders D.

Børglum * Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark David M. Hougaard * Danish Center for Neonatal Screening, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen,

Denmark David M. Hougaard * Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark Merete Nordentoft * NCRR-National Center for

Register-Based Research, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Preben B. Mortensen * CIRRAU–Centre for Integrated Register-Based Research, Aarhus University,

Aarhus, Denmark Preben B. Mortensen * Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA Wesley Kurt Thompson * Department of Economics and

Business Economics—National Centre for Register-based Research, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Esben Agerbo Authors * Lene Aarøe View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * Vivek Appadurai View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Kasper M. Hansen View author publications You can also

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View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * David M. Hougaard View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

* Merete Nordentoft View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Preben B. Mortensen View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Wesley Kurt Thompson View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Alfonso Buil View author publications You can also

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publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS L.A., E.A. and M.B.P. conceived the study. L.A., V.A., A.J.S., A.B., E.A. and M.B.P. designed the

study. L.A., V.A. and A.J.S. drafted the manuscript. L.A., V.A., A.J.S., K.M.H., E.A., A.B. and M.B.P. discussed the results and revised the manuscript. V.A. and A.J.S. conducted all of the

analyses except that K.M.H. conducted the analyses for Supplementary Table 5. K.M.H. collected the turnout data. P.B.M., M.N., A.D.B., D.M.H., T.W., O.M. and E.A. designed, implemented,

and/or oversaw the collection and generation of the IPSYCH data. All of the authors (L.A., V.A., K.M.H., A.J.S., T.W., O.M., A.D.B., D.M.H., M.N., P.B.M., W.K.T., A.B., E.A. and M.B.P.)

approved the final version of the manuscript. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Esben Agerbo. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PEER REVIEW INFORMATION: Primary Handling Editor: Charlotte Payne. PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published

maps and institutional affiliations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Details on the iPSYCH case–cohort sample and the turnout data, summary statistics, power analysis,

family-based heritability estimates; information about the genetic score analyses; information about the GWAS; information about the genetic correlations using LDHub; and information about

the Mendelian randomization analyses. REPORTING SUMMARY SUPPLEMENTARY TABLES Genetic correlations between voter turnout and non-voting traits (LDSC analyses). RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints

and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Aarøe, L., Appadurai, V., Hansen, K.M. _et al._ Genetic predictors of educational attainment and intelligence test performance predict

voter turnout. _Nat Hum Behav_ 5, 281–291 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-00952-2 Download citation * Received: 30 August 2019 * Accepted: 17 August 2020 * Published: 09 November

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