Replication Data for: Are There Long-Term Effects of the Vietnam Draft on Political Attitudes or Behavior? Apparently Not

Scholars have long sought to understand the effects of personal exposure to political events on political attitudes and behaviors. This paper takes a fresh look at the long-term effects of exposure to the risk of conscription during the Vietnam War. Like others who have leveraged random assignment to study the effects of conscription and the risk of conscription, we compare men with high and low draft numbers. Our comparisons make use of two data sources. Between 2014 and 2016, we conducted surveys of men whose names and birthdates were public information available through voter registration lists. Birthdates allow us to ascertain their exposure to conscription risk during the three years of the Vietnam draft lotteries. The surveys furnish extensive information about partisanship and policy orientations, especially those pertaining to issues involving the military. We find no appreciable differences between men with high or low draft numbers. These results are confirmed by public voter files, which show no apparent relationship between draft risk and subsequent party affiliation or voter turnout among more than three million draft-eligible men.

长期以来，学者们一直致力于探究个体接触政治事件对其政治态度与行为产生的影响。本文则针对越南战争时期个体接触征兵风险所产生的长期影响展开全新审视。与其他借助随机分配研究征兵及其风险影响的研究类似，本文通过对比征兵抽签号码高低不同的男性群体展开分析。本研究的对比分析依托两类数据源开展。2014年至2016年间，我们针对姓名与出生日期可通过选民登记名单获取的男性群体开展了问卷调查。出生日期能够帮助我们确定这些男性在越南战争征兵抽签三年期间接触征兵风险的情况。此次问卷收集了丰富的党派倾向与政策取向相关信息，尤其是与军事议题相关的内容。我们发现，征兵抽签号码高低不同的男性群体之间并未存在显著差异。上述结论得到了公开选民档案的验证：在超过300万符合征兵资格的男性群体中，征兵风险与后续党派归属或选民投票率之间并未呈现出明显关联。