The voter participation measure shows how big was the turnout, that is, how many of the eligible voters actually voted in a community. The higher the turnout the higher degree of democracy in a country. It is measured because of noticing patterns and predicting future elections, especially when wanting to win an election since you can see who didn't vote and often find out why and change that.
Herbert Hoover and Al Smith ran in the election of 1928. Hoover and Smith represented different backgrounds, religious ideas; each appealed to different groups of Americans. Source -- Quizlet
