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