In: Statistics and Probability
Only 17.6% of registered voters participated in the initial primary election in August In Alabama, 66.1% of voters participated in the 2016 presidential election. 15.2% of voters participated in both the primary and presidential elections. For an individual voter, are the events “voted in the presidential election” and “voted in the primary election” mutually exclusive and are they independent? Explain your reasoning.
Considering the information above: If an Alabama voter participated in the presidential election, what is the probability that he or she also participated in the primary election?
P(participated in primary elections) = 0.176
P(participated in presidential elections) = 0.661
P(participated in both elections) = 0.152
a) No, the events are not mutually exclusive because P(participated in both elections) is not equal to zero.
No, the events are not independent events because P(participated in both elections) ≠ P(participated in primary elections) * P(participated in presidential elections)
b) P(participated in primary election | participated in the presidential election) = P(participated in both elections) / P(participated in presidential elections)
= 0.152 / 0.661
= 0.230