These theories are called spatial theories of the vote because they are projected. It is possible to attribute some merits and some criticisms to this model at least in its initial formulation. Distance is understood in the sense of the proximity model for whom voter preference and party position is also important. "i.e., if it is proximity, it is 'yes', otherwise it is 'no' and therefore directional; 'are the preferences of the actors exogenous? The spatial theory of the vote postulates that the electoral choice is made in the maximization of individual utility. This diagram shows the process of misalignment with changes in the generational structure and changes in the social structure that create political misalignment. as a party's position moves away from our political preferences. The psycho-sociological model can be seen in the light of an explanatory contribution to the idea that social inking is a determining factor in explaining the vote, or at least on a theoretical level. These are models that should make us attentive to the different motivations that voters may or may not have to make in making an electoral choice. Voters calculate the cost of voting. A rather subjective and almost sentimental citizen is placed at the centre of the analysis. it is easier to change parties from one election to the next; a phase of realignment (3), which consists of creating new partisan loyalties. All parties that are in the same direction of the voter maximize the individual utility of that voter. There are certain types of factors that influence other types of factors and that in turn influence other types of factors and that ultimately help explain the idea of the causal funnel of electoral choice. There are several responses to criticisms of the proximity model. On the other hand, in rationalist approaches, shortcuts are cognitive shortcuts. The voters choose the candidate whose positions will match their preferences. 0000000636 00000 n According to them, it is necessary to combine different types of explanations and in particular, in the electoral choice, the components related to proximity, leadership, and also the rather "intensity" leadership, all of which play a significant role in the positioning of candidates and parties. it is an element of direction and not an element of distance or proximity that counts. Voters try to maximize their individual utility. There are also external factors that also need to be considered, such as the actions of the government, for example, voters are influenced by what the government has done. In essence, those studies provided the core concepts and models used in contemporary voting research. McElroy's connection to Vancouver didn't end there. For some, this model overestimates the capabilities that voters have. The law of curvilinear disparity takes up this distinction. There may be a vote that is different from partisan identification, but in the medium to long term, partisan identification should strengthen. This is a fairly reasonable development, as is the discounting model, whose proximity was something reasonable and which makes the model more consistent with reality. 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. It is a theory that makes it possible to explain both the voting behaviour of voters and the organisational behaviour of political parties. 0000004336 00000 n There is a whole literature on opinion formation, quite consensually, that says that citizens have a limited capacity to process information. There is a kind of heterogeneity of voters. 0000001124 00000 n Voters who vote against the party with which they identify keep their partisan identification. Its weak explanatory power has been criticized, and these are much more recent criticisms in the sense that we saw when we talked about class voting in particular, which from then on saw the emergence of a whole series of critics who said that all these variables of social position and anchoring in social contexts may have been explanatory of participation and voting at the time these theories emerged in the 1950s, but this may be much less true today in a phase or period of political misalignment. 0000007057 00000 n Ideology is a means of predicting and inferring political positions during an election campaign. What voters perceive are directional signals, that is, voters perceive that some parties are going in one direction and other parties are going in another direction on certain issues. This is especially important when applying this type of reasoning empirically. 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. In prospective voting, Grofman said that the position of current policy is also important because the prospective assessment that one can make as a voter of the parties' political platforms also depends on current policy. xref So there is an overestimation in this model with respect to capacity. In other words, if we know the partisan identification of voters, we can make a prediction about what the normal vote will be, which is a vote that is not or should not be influenced by other situational factors in a given electorate. Four questions can be asked in relation to this measure: For the first question, there are several studies on the fact that partisan identification is multi-dimensional and not just one-dimensional. Several studies show that the impact of partisan identification varies greatly from one context to another. These authors proposed to say that there would be a relationship between the explanatory models of the vote and the cycle of alignment, realignment, misalignment in the sense that the sociological model would be better able to explain the vote in phases of political realignment. Psychology and Voting Behavior In the same years that behaviorism (of various forms) came to dominate the The limitations are the explanation of partisan identification, which is that the model has been criticized because it explains or does not explain too much about where partisan identification comes from except to say that it is the result of primary socialization. If we look at it a little more broadly, partisan identification can be seen as a kind of shortcut. It is a theory that is made in the interaction between supply and demand, that is, between parties offering something and voters asking for something. the maximum utility is reached at the line level. It also proposes a reconceptualization of the concept of partisanship in order to integrate all relevant contributions of the . Today, there is an attempt to combine the different explanations trying to take into account, both sociological determinants but also the emotional and affective component as well as the component related to choice and calculation. Often, in Anglo-Saxon literature, this model is referred to as the party identification model. 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. What explains historical variation in voter turnout? Downs, Anthony. The book's focus was sociological, mainly considering socio-demographic predictors, interpersonal influence, cross-pressures, and the effects of social groups, as well as analyzing voter activation, reinforcement, and conversion across the election year. trailer Positioning on a left-right scale is related to this type of theory. preferences and positions. Is partisan identification one-dimensional? In this representation, there are factors related to the cleavages, but also other factors that relate to the economic, political or social structure of a country being factors that are far removed from the electoral choice but that still exert an important effect in an indirect way the effect they have on other variables afterwards. Rationalist theories and spatial models of the vote have had the very beneficial relationship of putting precisely the free choice of voters at the centre of analyses. The problem of information is crucial in the spatial theories of voting and who would need an answer to fully understand these different theories. As far as the proximity model with discounting is concerned, there is a concern when we are going to apply it empirically: we need to be able to determine what the degree of discounting is, how much the voter is going to discount. Another possible strategy is to rely on the judgment of others such as opinion leaders. There was a whole series of critics who said that if it's something rational, there's a problem with the way democracy works. One of the merits, which can be found in Lazarsfeld's book entitled The People's Choice published in 1944 is that this model marks a turning point in the study of political behaviour. This ensures congruence and proximity between the party and the electorate. Much of the work in electoral behaviour draws on this thinking. Directional model with intensity: Rabinowitz, Four possible answers to the question of how voters decide to vote, Unified Voting Model: Merrill and Grofman, Responses to criticisms of the proximity model, Partisan Competition Theory: Przeworski and Sprague, Relationship between voting explanatory models and realignment cycle. Beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there has been a strong development of directional models. In other words, a directional element is introduced into the proximity model. Studies have shown that, for example, outside the United States, a much larger proportion of voters who change their vote also change their partisan identification. 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 the Michigan model, the idea of stakes was already present but was somewhat underdeveloped, and this perspective on the role of stakes in the psychosocial model lent itself to both theoretical and empirical criticism from proponents of rationalist models. The theory of the economic model of the vote is also a model that allows predictions to be made about party behaviour. Sociological Model (Columbia Model) Social-Psychological Model (Michigan Model) Economic / Rational Choice Model (Rochester Model) 5 Sociological Model. In the literature, we often talk about the economic theory of voting. Symbolic politics says that what is important in politics are not necessarily the rationally perceived positions or the political positions of the parties but what the political symbols evoke in relation to certain issues. 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. According to Merril and Grofman, one cannot determine whether one pure model is superior to another because there are methodological and data limitations. According to Fiorina, retrospective voting is that citizens' preferences depend not only on how close they are to the political position of a party or candidate, but also on their retrospective assessment of the performance of the ruling party or candidate. There is a small degree of complexity because one can distinguish between attitudes towards the candidate or the party, attitudes towards the policies implemented by the different parties and attitudes about the benefits that one's own group may receive from voting for one party rather than another. The Neighborhood Model. Moreover, there are analogies that are made even explicitly with the idea of the market. The political position of each candidate is represented in the same space, it is the interaction between supply and demand and the voter will choose the party or candidate that is closest to the voter. 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. That is why there are many empirical analyses that are based on this model. The presupposition for spatial theories of voting has already been mentioned, namely the stake vote. In other words, when we are interested in trying to explain the vote, we must already know what type of voter we are talking about. What are the criteria for determining the individual usefulness of voters? Prospective voting says that the evaluation is based on what the parties and candidates are going to say. Comparative Political Studies, 27(2), 155189. Another model is called the funnel model of causality which has been proposed by these authors working on the psycho-sociological model. The idea is to create a party that forges ideologies and partisan identities. There is the idea of the interaction between a political demand and a political offer proposed by the different candidates during an election or a vote. . There has also been the criticism of abstention as the result of rational calculation. Radical approach regards class-based (structural) model as outdated and insufficient to explain . This is the idea of collective action, since our own contribution to an election or vote changes with the number of other citizens who vote. Voters who want their ballot mailed to an address that is not their address on record will be required to submit their request in writing. Curiously, the intensity directional model that adds an element to the simple directional model chronologically precedes the simple directional model. Print. There are other models and economic theories of the vote, including directional theories that have a different perspective but remain within the framework of economic theories of the vote. Since the idea is to calculate the costs and benefits of voting for one party rather than the other, therefore, each party brings us some utility income. 0000003292 00000 n Does partisan identification work outside the United States? On the other hand, preferences for candidates in power are best explained by the proximity model and the simple directional model. Parties do not try to maximize the vote, but create images of society, forge identities, mobilize commitments for the future. If someone positions himself as a left-wing or right-wing voter, the parties are positioned on an ideological level. 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. A distinction is made between the sociological model of voting from the Columbia School, which refers to the university where this model was developed. The role of the centrality of partisan identification has been criticized, especially today, because partisan identification plays a role that is still important but much less important than it used to be and may be much less important than some researchers within this paradigm have postulated. [1] The basic assumptions of the economic model of the vote are threefold: selfishness, which is the fact that voters act according to their individual interests and not according to their sense of belonging to a group or their attachment to a party. We are looking at the interaction. Symbols evoke emotions. It is easier to look at what someone has done than to evaluate the promises they made. 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. 1.2 Psychology and behavior 9 1.3 Voting behavior and action 13 1.4 Strategies of explanation 14 1.5 Research questions and outline 16 2 The empirical analysis of voting action 19 2.1 Introduction 21 2.2 The Wrzburg school 21 2.3 Lazarsfeld and the empirical analysis of action 23 2.4 The Columbia approach to voting action 26 Ideology is to be understood as a way of simplifying our world in relation to the problem of information. A unified theory of voting: directional and proximity spatial models. 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. Three Models of Voting Behavior. We talk about the electoral market in the media or the electoral supply. Psychological theories are based on a type of explanation that does not focus on the issues discussed during a political campaign, for example. This model explains for Downs why we abstain. It is a model that is very close to data and practice and lends itself very easily to empirical testing through measures of partisan identification and different measures of socio-demographic factors among others. 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. The sociological model at the theoretical level emphasizes something important that rationalist and economic theories have largely overlooked, namely, the importance of the role of social context, i.e., voters are all in social contexts and therefore not only family context but also a whole host of other social contexts. In other words, in this retrospective assessment, the economic situation of the country plays a crucial role. 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. The starting point is that there is a congruence of attitudes between party leaders and voters due to the possibility of exit for voters when the party no longer represents them (exit). As for the intensity model, they manage to perceive something more, that is to say, not only a direction but an intensity through which a political party defends certain positions and goes in certain political directions. 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. Basic Idea What you are vote choice ; Key foundational studies ; Lazarsfeld, Berelson, Gaudet (1944) The Peoples Choice Berelson, Lazarsfeld, McPhee (1954) Voting The reference work is The People's Choice published in 1948 by Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet. European Journal of Political Research, 54(2), 197215. At the basis of the reflection of directional models, and in particular of directional models with intensity, there is what is called symbolic politics. In Person: 971 W Duval St. Ste. It is also possible to add that the weight of partisan identification varies from one voter to another. They are voters who make the effort to inform themselves, to look at the proposals of the different parties and try to evaluate the different political offers. In a phase of alignment, this would be the psycho-sociological model, i.e. Numerous studies have found that voting behavior and political acts can be "contagious . We want to know how and why a voter will vote for a certain party. In this perspective, voting is essentially a question of attachment, identity and loyalty to a party, whereas in the rationalist approach it is mainly a question of interest, cognition and rational reading of one's own needs and the adequacy of different political offers to one's needs. These criticisms and limitations are related to the original model. The fit of a measurement model that differentiates between the various degrees of suicidal severity was verified. The idea is that the extremist attitudes of those former voters who become party activists push strategic positioning in a direction that takes them away from their constituents. More specifically, the costs that the voter has to take into account according to the different parties and candidates must be evaluated, which is the partisan differential, i.e. 0000005382 00000 n Cambridge New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. The original measurement was very simple being based on two questions which are a scale with a question about leadership. The psycho-sociological model says that it is because this inking allows identification with a party which in turn influences political attitudes and therefore predispositions with regard to a given object, with regard to the candidate or the party, and this is what ultimately influences the vote. A particular configuration is the fact that there are dissatisfied party activists who are extremist compared to voters and elected party leaders. Has the partisan identification weakened? The government is blamed for the poor state of the economy. Voters are more interested in political results than in political programmes, and the choice is also made from this perspective. The scientific study of voting behavior is marked by three major research schools: the sociological model, often identified as School of Columbia, with the main reference in Applied Bureau of Social Research of Columbia University, whose work begins with the publication of the book The Peoples Choice (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet, 1944) and This theory presupposed that the voter recognizes his or her own interest, assesses alternative candidates, and on the basis of this assessment, will choose for the candidate or party that will be most favourably assessed in the sense of best serving his or her own political interests and interests. Spatial theories of voting are nothing other than what we have seen so far with regard to the economic model of voting. There are two variations. %PDF-1.3 % Nevertheless, both models may be more or less correct. Lazarsfeld was interested in this and simply, empirically, he found that these other factors had less explanatory weight than the factors related to political predisposition and therefore to this social inking. 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. Finally, the results of this test are discussed and conclusions drawn. The anomaly is that there is a majority of the electorate around the centre, but there are parties at the extremes that can even capture a large part of the preferences of the electorate. 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. Later, their analysis saw that party identification and attachment was the most common factor. Proximity means the closeness of the voter's interests to the political proposals that are made with the parties. Models of Voting Behavior Models of Voting Behavior Dr. Bradley Best Asst. the difference in the cost-benefit ratio that different parties give. One must assess the value of one's own participation and also assess the number of other citizens who will vote. 43 17 In other words, the voters' political preferences on different issues, in other words, in this type of theorizing, they know very well what they want, and what is more, these positions are very fixed and present when the voter is going to have to vote. We are going to talk about the economic model. Print. Prospective voting is the one that has been postulated by Downs and by all other researchers who work in proximity models but also in two-way models. Theoretically, it is possible to have as many dimensions as there are issues being discussed in an election campaign. The function of partisan identification is to allow the voter to face political information and to know which party to vote for. That discounting depends on where the policy is right now in relation to what the party is promising, and that is the directional element. p. 31). The choice of candidates is made both according to direction but also according to the intensity of positions on a given issue. There is no real electoral choice in this type of explanation, but it is based on our insertion in a social context. The utility function of this model is modified compared to the simple model, i.e. An important factor is the role of political campaigns in influencing the vote. 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. It is an explanation that is completely outside the logic of proximity and the spatial logic of voting. Most voters have a sense of allegiance to a party that is inherited through the family. There are different types of individuals who take different kinds of shortcuts or not, who vote systematically or not, and so on. Some people talk about membership voting for the first two theories and cognitive voting for the economic model of voting. Simply, the voter is going to evaluate his own interest, his utility income from the different parties and will vote for the party that is closest to his interests. Systematically or not, who vote against the party identification model the closeness of market! Of society, forge identities, mobilize commitments for the first two and! Voting for the economic model to long term, partisan identification varies from one to! Proximity means the closeness of the market another possible strategy is to create a party forges... 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