We must assess the costs of going to the polls, of gathering the information needed to make a decision, but also the value of one's own participation, since the model is also supposed to explain voter turnout. There have been attempts to address this anomaly. Finally, the results of this test are discussed and conclusions drawn. This article reviews the main theoretical models that explain the electoral behavior sociological model of voting behavior, psychosocial model of voting behavior and rational. In a phase of alignment, this would be the psycho-sociological model, i.e. A symbol is evaluated on the basis of two parameters, namely direction (1), a symbol gives a certain direction in the policy and in addition a certain intensity (2) which is to what extent is one favourable or unfavourable to a certain policy. From the point of view of parties and candidates, the economic model and in particular the model that was proposed by Downs in 1957 and which predicts a convergence of a party position towards the centre. By Phone: (386) 758-1026 ext. The second explanation refers to the directional model, i.e. Reinforcement over time since adult voters increasingly rely on this partisan identification to vote and to face the problems of information, namely partisan identification seen as a way of solving a problem that all voters have, which is how to form an idea and deal with the abundance and complexity of the information that comes to us from, for example, the media, political campaigns or others in relation to the political offer. Thus, they were well suited not only to develop and test theories of voting behavior, but also to provide an historical record of the considerations shaping the outcomes of specific national elections. Maximizing utility is done in proximity to certain issues. For Lazarsfeld, we think politically how we are socially, there is not really the idea of electoral choice. Direction ("Who votes for whom?") Voters are more interested in political results than in political programmes, and the choice is also made from this perspective. This idea of an issue was not invented by the proponents of the economic model of voting but was already present in the psycho-sociological model. <]>>
These two proximity models are opposed to two other models that are called directional models with Matthews' simple directional model but especially Rabinowitz's directional model with intensity. It is no longer a question of explaining "why" people participate but "how", that is, in terms of voter turnout, what choice is made and what can explain an electoral choice. It is an explanation that is completely outside the logic of proximity and the spatial logic of voting. Inking and the role of socialization cause individuals to form a certain partisan identification that produces certain types of political attitudes. McElroy's connection to Vancouver didn't end there. Thus, voters find it easier to assess performance than declared plans during an election campaign. The economic model of the vote puts the notion of electoral choice back at the centre. Grofman's idea is to say that the voter discounts what the candidates say (discounting) based on the difference between current policy and what the party says it will do or promise. From this point of view, parties adopt political positions that maximize their electoral support, what Downs calls the median voters and the idea that parties would maximize their electoral support around the center of the political spectrum. 0000002253 00000 n
There are other variants or models that try to accommodate this complexity. In general, they are politically more sophisticated and better educated; those who rely on the opinion of the media and opinion leaders; that of the law of curvilinear disparity proposed by May; the directional model of Rabinowitz and Matthews; Przeworski and Sprague's mobilization of the electorate. In this way, parties can offer relatively extreme political platforms that are not optimal in the short term, but that generate higher levels of support in the medium and long term. Property qualifications. There are several responses to criticisms of the proximity model. If someone positions himself as a left-wing or right-wing voter, the parties are positioned on an ideological level. Political parties can make choices that are not choices to maximize the electorate, unlike spatial theories, where parties seek to maximize their short-term electoral support in an election. party loyalties are freed from their social base and thus these party identifications are formed and crystallized. On this basis, four types of voters can be identified in a simplified manner: It is possible to start from the assumption that the characteristics of these different voters are very different. A distinction is often made between two types of voters and votes between the: There are these two types and a whole literature on the different types of euristics that can be set up. In other words, they are voters who are not prepared to pay all these costs and therefore want to reduce or improve the cost-benefit ratio which is the basis of this electoral choice by reducing the costs and the benefit will remain unchanged. So there are four main ways. When the voter is in the same position, i.e. Comparative Political Studies, 27(2), 155189. There are different types of costs that this model considers and that need to be taken into account and in particular two types of costs which are the costs of going to vote (1) but above all, there are the costs of information (2) which are the costs of obtaining this information since in this model which postulates to choose a party on the basis of an evaluation of the different propositions of information which is available, given these basic postulates, the transparency of information and therefore the costs of information are crucial. For Fiorina, the retrospective vote is the fact that current policy is fundamental, whereas in the prospective vote it is less so. 0000004336 00000 n
There are other theories that highlight the impact of economic conditions and how voters compare different election results in their electoral choices, which refers to economic voting in the strict sense of the term. Basic Idea What you are vote choice ; Key foundational studies ; Lazarsfeld, Berelson, Gaudet (1944) The Peoples Choice Berelson, Lazarsfeld, McPhee (1954) Voting Numbers abound, since we have seen that, in the end, both models systematically have a significant effect. It has often been emphasized that this model and approach raises more questions than answers. In the spatial theories of the vote, we see the strategic link between a party's supply and a demand from voters or electors. On the other hand, the political preferences are exogenous to the political process which is the fact that when the voter goes to vote which is the moment when he or she starts to think about this election, he or she already arrives with certain fixed or prefixed political preferences. Various explanations have been offered over the roughly 70-year history of voting behavior research, but two explanations in particular have garnered the most attention and generated the most debate in the literature on voting behavior. startxref
Three Models of Voting Behavior. They may rely less on their partisan loyalties, so their vote may be explained less by their social base and more by their choice among an offer that is the economic model. The theory of the economic model of the vote is also a model that allows predictions to be made about party behaviour. We often talk about economic theory of the vote in the broadest sense in order to designate a rationalist theory based on rational choice theory and spatial theories of the vote. One important element of this model must be highlighted in relation to the others. offers a behavior analysis of voting behavior. Although the models rely on the same data they make radically different predictions about the political future. Today, when we see regression analyses of electoral choice, we will always find among the control variables social status variables, a religion variable and a variable related to place of residence. Hence the creation of the political predisposition index which should measure and capture the role of social insertion or position in explaining electoral choice. It rejects the notion that voting behavior is largely determined by class affiliation or class socialization. The psychological and socio-economic model are strongly opposed, offering two explanations that are difficult to reconcile, even though there have been efforts to try to combine them. The presupposition is that voter preferences are not exogenous but are endogenous - they change within the framework of an electoral process. This model emphasizes the role of integration into social groups. What is interesting is that they try to relate this to personality traits such as being open, conscientious, extroverted, pleasant and neurotic. Sociological Model (Columbia Model) Social-Psychological Model (Michigan Model) Economic / Rational Choice Model (Rochester Model) 5 Sociological Model. There is a small bridge that is made between these two theories with Fiorina on the one hand and the Michigan model of another party that puts the concept of partisan identification at the centre and that conceives of this concept in a very different way, especially with regard to its origin. When we talk about the Downs model, we also talk about the proximity model, which is the idea of a rational economic mode based on utility maximization. Four questions around partisan identification. It is possible to create a typology that distinguishes between four approaches crossing two important and crucial elements: "is voting spatial? Proximity can be calculated on the basis of the programmes and actual positions declared by the parties or on the basis of a discount factor, a perception factor or a difference factor according to the discount model. The function of partisan identification is to allow the voter to face political information and to know which party to vote for. For example, there is Lazarsfeld's theory with the idea that opinion leaders can be seen as people to whom we attribute a strong trust and maybe even an esteem in relation to the political judgment they may have and therefore, by discussing with these people, it is possible to form an electoral choice and therefore there is no need to go and pay these costs of gathering information. What we see here in relation to the sociological model and that these variables highlighted by the sociological model such as socialization, inking or social position play a role but only indirectly. These are some of the criticisms and limitations often made by proponents of other approaches. There are two slightly different connotations. The initial formation of this model was very deterministic in wanting to focus on the role of social inclusion while neglecting other aspects, even though today there is increasingly a kind of ecumenical attempt to have an explanation that takes into account different aspects. The theories that are supposed to explain the electoral choice also explain at the same time the electoral participation in particular with the sociological model. Thus, voters will vote for candidates who are in the direction (1) and who are going in that direction in the most intense way (2), that is, who propose policies going in that direction in the strongest and most intense way. This is the basic motivation for the development of these directional models. It is also possible to add that the weight of partisan identification varies from one voter to another. The choice can be made according to different criteria, but they start from the assumption that there are these voters who arrive in an electoral process that refers to the idea of the hexogeneity of voters' preferences. trailer
it is easier to change parties from one election to the next; a phase of realignment (3), which consists of creating new partisan loyalties. Numerous studies have found that voting behavior and political acts can be "contagious . Professor Political Science Buena Vista University Two basic concerns: Turnout ("Who votes?") Key questions: What are the characteristics and attitudes of voters vs. nonvoters? The idea was that there were two possible responses that are put in place by members of that organization: one of "exit", to withdraw, to go to another organization. It can be defined as lasting feelings of attachment that individuals develop towards a certain party. Numerous studies examine voting behavior based on the formal theoretical predictions of the spatial utility model. Does partisan identification work outside the United States? The cause-and-effect relationship is reversed, according to some who argue that this is a problem at the empirical level when we want to study the effect of partisan identification on electoral choice because there is a problem of endogeneity; we no longer know what explains what. There have been several phases of misalignment. The extent to which the usefulness of voters' choices varies from candidate to candidate, but also from voter to voter. At the aggregate level, the distribution of partisan identification in the electorate makes it possible to calculate the normal vote. In other words, the homing tendency that is the explanation that the model postulates is much less true outside the United States. These theories are called spatial theories of the vote because they are projected. Downs, Anthony. If we do not accept the idea that actors will vote according to their assessment of certain issues, to be more precise, according to their assessment of the position that the various parties have on certain issues, if we do not understand that, we cannot understand the spatial theories of voting either. According to Fiorina, identification with a party is not necessarily the result of a long phase of socialization, but it is also the result of evaluations of a certain party, it is the fact of voting for that party that makes it possible to develop a partisan identification. as a party's position moves away from our political preferences. The importance of symbolic politics is especially capitalized on by the intensity directional models. _____ were the first widespread barriers to the franchise to be eliminated. does partisan identification work outside the United States? Certain developments in the theory of the psycho-sociological model have in fact provided answers to these criticisms. The strategies and shortcuts are mainly used by citizens who are interested in going to vote or in an election but who do not have a strong preference beforehand. Parties do not try to maximize the vote, but create images of society, forge identities, mobilize commitments for the future. 59 0 obj
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the translation of personal preference into a voluntary action designed to influence public policy Understanding voters' behavior can explain how and why decisions were made either by public decision-makers, which has been a central concern for political scientists, [1] or by the electorate. It was this model that proposed that abstention can be the result of a purely rational calculation. While Downs said that there are parties that take positions on issues, the voter has difficulty with this inferring a position on a left-right axis. So, we are going to the extremes precisely because we are trying to mobilize an electorate. Hirschman contrasts the "exit" strategy with the "voice" strategy, which is based on what he calls "loyalty", which is that one can choose not to leave but to make the organization change, to restore the balance between one's own aspirations and what the organization can offer. This is a very common and shared notion. From the perspective of the issue vote, there are four main ways to explain how and why voters are going to vote a certain way and why parties are going to position themselves. We see the kinship of this model with the sociological model explaining that often they are put together. The idea of intensity can also be seen as the idea that there are certain issues, that there are certain political positions that put forward symbols and some of these symbols evoke making these two issues more visible to voters but in the sense of making voters say that this particular party is going in that direction and with a high intensity. Finally, in a phase of misalignment, this would be the economic model, since there is a loss of these partisan loyalties, so these voters become more and more reactive to political events and therefore may be more rational in their decision-making process. 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