Manuel Almeida / EPA
A new study finds that older Americans who vote live longer than those who don’t vote.
Most people know the basics of healthy living that become more important as they age: Eat lots of vegetables, exercise regularly, sleep well, have a social life, limit alcohol consumption and don’t smoke.
As an economist and social psychologist who studies altruism and health, Sara Konrath e Femida Handyrespectively, wondered whether civic engagement could also play a role.
In 2022, the American Medical Association, an organization representing doctors, noted that voting could potentially have health benefits. So they conducted a study that directly tested this idea. They examined whether older Americans – people 65 and older – who vote live longer than non-voters.
As the researchers explain Sara Konrath e Femida Handy in an article in , data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, one that has been following a randomly selected sample of Wisconsin high school graduates since 1957.
The long-term health of older adults who voted in the 2008 presidential election was compared to those who did not vote in that election.
Using objectively verified voting records from Catalist, which tracks Americans’ voting behavior, along with official records from the National Death Index, it found that voters were 45% less likely to die in the five years after the 2008 election, 37% less likely to die 10 years after the election, and 29% less likely to die 15 years later.
Voting in the 2004 and 2012 presidential elections was also examined and it was discovered that the results were stronger for more recent elections – those held in 2008 and 2012 – compared to the previous one held in 2004.
You may wonder if this happens just because healthier people have, from the outset, more likely to vote.
It’s easier to vote when you’re healthy than when you’re not.but this does not fully explain the results.
The new discoveries
Voters continued to have a lower risk of death when controlling for demographic factors such as gender, marital status and income, other forms of civic involvement such as volunteering, and the voter’s health status before voting.
It was also found that those who were in worse health initially benefited more from voting 15 years later than those who were healthier before voting.
Here is another conclusion: the way someone voted didn’t matter.
When comparing what happened to older adults who voted in person versus those who mailed in their vote, it was found that both groups had an approximately equally lower risk of dying over the 15-year period.
It also didn’t matter whether a voter’s preferred candidate won. It turned out that although it can be stressful when the candidate you support loses, studied people experienced long-term health benefits similar to voting, regardless of your political affiliation.
Why does this matter
Scientists have long known that people who volunteer for nonprofit organizations experience many health benefits, including increased longevity.
Voting is, undoubtedly, also a act motivated by altruism. This is because individual voters know that their single vote will not change the outcome of a national election.
Like other civic engagement activities, including volunteering, voting can trigger positive biological responses that support well-being.
Other researchers have found abundant evidence that volunteering can stimulate the brain’s reward system, reduce stress and even slow down some aspects of aging.
Although this has not been tested in Wisconsin Longitudinal Studymay help explain why people who vote tend to have better health outcomes than those who don’t vote.
Voting can also improve health through a feeling of self-efficacy, civic duty and social connectionsince it is simultaneously an altruistic and shared activity.
But even if it doesn’t get better… vote!
