Can "voter gene" influence elections?

• Position: Heredity

The decision to vote partly is genetic, according to a study that is the first to show that genes influence participation in elections and in a wide range of political activities. Researchers Christopher T. Dawes and James H. Fowler of the University of California, Davis, and Laura A. Baker of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, have identified a link between two specific genes and political participation.

They show that individuals with a variant of the MAOA (monoamine oxidase) gene are significantly more likely to have voted in the 2000 presidential election. Their research also demonstrates a connection between a variant of the 5HTT gene and voter turnout, which is moderated by religious attendance. These are the first results ever to link specific genes to political behavior.

The researchers examined nationwide voting patterns using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, conducted from 1994-2002. This data has been utilized in a wide variety of genetic studies, but this is the first time it has been employed to show that participatory political behavior is heritable. For example, among identical twins (who share 100% of their genes), the researchers conclude that 72% of the variance in voter turnout can be attributed to genes. For fraternal twins (who, on average, share 50% of their genes), there is a 53% variance. Moreover, genetic-based differences extend to a...