Election Campaigns and Voter Decision-Making in a Multi-Party System

Election Campaigns and Voter Decision-Making in a Multi-Party System
Author: Konstantin Gavras
Publisher: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2017-02-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9783848729722

This book analyses how people decided to participate in and who to vote for over the course of the 2009 and 2013 German federal election campaigns. Using data from two seven-wave campaign panel surveys collected in the framework of the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES), it demonstrates that both turnout and vote choice, as well as their attitudinal precursors, underwent considerable individual-level changes in the run-up to these elections. Fixed-effects panel regression analyses show that campaign efforts, controversies and events did influence voting behaviour. These effects were not confined to certain subsections of the electorate, either in terms of political involvement or partisanship. Campaign effects led some party adherents back to the fold, whereas they made others defect. In the German multiparty system, campaigns are capable of making a difference to voting behaviour. This analysis thus casts doubt on the general applicability of the minimal effects model.

Breaking the Two-party Doom Loop

Breaking the Two-party Doom Loop
Author: Lee Drutman
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2020
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0190913851

American democracy is in deep crisis. But what do we do about it? That depends on how we understand the current threat.In Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop, Lee Drutman argues that we now have, for the first time in American history, a genuine two-party system, with two fully-sorted, truly national parties, divided over the character of the nation. And it's a disaster. It's a party system fundamentally at odds withour anti-majoritarian, compromise-oriented governing institutions. It threatens the very foundations of fairness and shared values on which our democracy depends.Deftly weaving together history, democratic theory, and cutting-edge political science research, Drutman tells the story of how American politics became so toxic and why the country is now trapped in a doom loop of escalating two-party warfare from which there is only one escape: increase the numberof parties through electoral reform. As he shows, American politics was once stable because the two parties held within them multiple factions, which made it possible to assemble flexible majorities and kept the climate of political combat from overheating. But as conservative Southern Democrats andliberal Northeastern Republicans disappeared, partisan conflict flattened and pulled apart. Once the parties became fully nationalized - a long-germinating process that culminated in 2010 - toxic partisanship took over completely. With the two parties divided over competing visions of nationalidentity, Democrats and Republicans no longer see each other as opponents, but as enemies. And the more the conflict escalates, the shakier our democracy feels.Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop makes a compelling case for large scale electoral reform - importantly, reform not requiring a constitutional amendment - that would give America more parties, making American democracy more representative, more responsive, and ultimately more stable.

The Persuadable Voter

The Persuadable Voter
Author: D. Sunshine Hillygus
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2014-04-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1400831598

The use of wedge issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and immigration has become standard political strategy in contemporary presidential campaigns. Why do candidates use such divisive appeals? Who in the electorate is persuaded by these controversial issues? And what are the consequences for American democracy? In this provocative and engaging analysis of presidential campaigns, Sunshine Hillygus and Todd Shields identify the types of citizens responsive to campaign information, the reasons they are responsive, and the tactics candidates use to sway these pivotal voters. The Persuadable Voter shows how emerging information technologies have changed the way candidates communicate, who they target, and what issues they talk about. As Hillygus and Shields explore the complex relationships between candidates, voters, and technology, they reveal potentially troubling results for political equality and democratic governance. The Persuadable Voter examines recent and historical campaigns using a wealth of data from national surveys, experimental research, campaign advertising, archival work, and interviews with campaign practitioners. With its rigorous multimethod approach and broad theoretical perspective, the book offers a timely and thorough understanding of voter decision making, candidate strategy, and the dynamics of presidential campaigns.

Voters and Voting in Context

Voters and Voting in Context
Author: Christof Wolf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2017-10-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0192509977

Voters and Voting in Context investigates the role of context in affecting political opinion formation and voting behaviour. Building on a model of contextual effects on individual-level voter behaviour, the chapters of this volume explore contextual effects in Germany in the early twenty-first century. The volume draws upon manifold combinations of individual and contextual information gathered in the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) framework and employ advanced methods. In substantive terms, it investigates the impact of campaign communication on political learning, effects of media coverage on the perceived importance of political problems, and the role of electoral competition on candidate strategies and perceptions. It also examines the role of social and economic contexts as well as parties' policy stances in affecting electoral turnout. The volume explores the impact of social cues on candidate voting, effects of electoral arenas on vote functions, the role of media coverage on ideological voting, and effects of campaign communication on the timing of electoral decision-making. Voters and Voting in Context demonstrates the key role of the processes of communication and politicization in bringing about contextual effects. Context thus plays a nuanced role in voting behaviour. The contingency of contextual effects suggests that they will become an important topic in research on political behaviour and democratic politics.

Grand Illusion

Grand Illusion
Author: Theresa Amato
Publisher: The New Press
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2009-06-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1595585079

Ralph Nader’s former campaign manager “takes the biggest swing—not a jab, but a roundhouse punch—at America’s corrupt electoral system” (Phil Donahue). As the national campaign manager for Ralph Nader’s historic runs for president in 2000 and 2004, Theresa Amato had a rare ringside role in two of the most hotly contested presidential elections this country has seen. In Grand Illusion, she gives us a witty, thoughtful critique of the American electoral system, as well as a powerful argument for opening up the contest as if people and their daily lives mattered. While making the case for specific reforms in the United States’ arcane system of ballot access laws, complex federal regulations, and partisan control of elections, Amato also offers a spirited history of how third-party and Independent candidates have kept important issues on the table in elections past and contribute to our country’s political life. Even the most fervent Nader critics will think twice about Nader’s role in 2000, thanks to Amato’s trenchant factual analysis. Looking beyond the Nader story to campaigns waged by challengers John Anderson, Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, and others, Amato shows how limiting ourselves to two candidates deprives our country of a robust political life, strips would-be contenders of their free speech and association rights, and cheats voters out of meaningful political choices. “Amato displays an encyclopedic knowledge of election law, and her recommendations for election reform, including a comprehensive plan for ‘Federal Administration and Financing of Elections,’ are crucial contributions to the debate over election law.” —Publishers Weekly

The Timeline of Presidential Elections

The Timeline of Presidential Elections
Author: Robert S. Erikson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2012-08-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0226922162

In presidential elections, do voters cast their ballots for the candidates whose platform and positions best match their own? Or is the race for president of the United States come down largely to who runs the most effective campaign? It’s a question those who study elections have been considering for years with no clear resolution. In The Timeline of Presidential Elections, Robert S. Erikson and Christopher Wlezien reveal for the first time how both factors come into play. Erikson and Wlezien have amassed data from close to two thousand national polls covering every presidential election from 1952 to 2008, allowing them to see how outcomes take shape over the course of an election year. Polls from the beginning of the year, they show, have virtually no predictive power. By mid-April, when the candidates have been identified and matched in pollsters’ trial heats, preferences have come into focus—and predicted the winner in eleven of the fifteen elections. But a similar process of forming favorites takes place in the last six months, during which voters’ intentions change only gradually, with particular events—including presidential debates—rarely resulting in dramatic change. Ultimately, Erikson and Wlezien show that it is through campaigns that voters are made aware of—or not made aware of—fundamental factors like candidates’ policy positions that determine which ticket will get their votes. In other words, fundamentals matter, but only because of campaigns. Timely and compelling, this book will force us to rethink our assumptions about presidential elections.

Capturing Campaign Effects

Capturing Campaign Effects
Author: Henry E. Brady
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2009-09-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0472023039

Capturing Campaign Effects is the definitive study to date of the influence of campaigns on political culture. Comprising a broad exploration of campaign factors (debates, news coverage, advertising, and polls) and their effects (priming, learning, and persuasion), as well as an impressive survey of techniques for the collection and analysis of campaign data, Capturing Campaign Effects examines different kinds of campaigns in the U.S. and abroad and presents strong evidence for significant campaign effects. "Capturing Campaign Effects is an accessible and penetrating account of modern scholarship on electoral politics. It draws critical insights from a range of innovative analyses." --Arthur Lupia, University of Michigan "What a wonderful way to usher in the new era of election studies! This book spotlights fascinating paradoxes in the literature of voting behavior, highlights many promising approaches to resolving those paradoxes, and shows how these strategies can yield important findings with terrific payoffs for our understanding of contemporary democracy. Fasten your seatbelts, folks: scholarship on elections is about to speed up thanks to this collection of great essays." --Jon Krosnick, Stanford University "The past decade has seen a renewed interest in understanding campaign effects. How and when do voters learn? Does the election campaign even matter at all? Capturing Campaign Effects draws on leading political scientists to address these matters. The result is a collection that will become the major reference for the study of campaigns. The lesson that emerges is that campaigns do affect voter decision making, usually for the better." --Robert S. Erikson, Columbia University Henry E. Brady is Class of 1941 Monroe Deutsch Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, and Director of the Survey Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Richard Johnston is Professor and Head of Political Science and Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia.

Winning Elections with Political Marketing

Winning Elections with Political Marketing
Author: Philip J Davies
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2012-11-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136450432

Find out the real impact political marketing has on the democratic process Winning Elections with Political Marketing is a unique look at the election process on both sides of the Atlantic, providing rare insight into how modern political communication and marketing strategies are used in the United States and the United Kingdom. The leading political researchers present a cross-section of their latest findings, augmented with easy-to-read tables, charts, and figures, and reinforced with extensive references and bibliographies. The book addresses the key issues that define the interplay between political marketing and the electorate in both countries, including advertising, research methods and cross-cultural research results, political choice behavior, imagery management, the integration of business and social science theory, and the impact of political marketing on democracy. While the national election cycles of the two countries may be fundamentally different, their election processes share one thing in common-a trend toward “permanent campaigning” through embedded marketing tactics that’s becoming standard practice in the United States and the United Kingdom. Winning Elections with Political Marketing examines the theoretical underpinnings of policy development, the characteristics of a successful political candidate, political marketing from the perspective of the voters, campaign finance regulations, and the effects of technological changes on political communication. Winning Elections with Political Marketing looks at: The Political Triangle determining market intelligence class, rhetoric, and candidate portrayal voter perceptions the role of President as party leader lobbying constituent communication voter behavior grass roots campaigns political consulting the Internet and e-newsletters the advantages of public funding and a study of the United States presidential primaries from 1976 to 2004 Winning Elections with Political Marketing is an essential resource for political practitioners, researchers, and scholars, candidates seeking political office, lobbyists, political action groups, public relations professionals, journalists, fundraisers, advertising specialists, and anyone with an interest in the political process.

A Cross-Cultural Theory of Voter Behavior

A Cross-Cultural Theory of Voter Behavior
Author: Wojciech Cwalina
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2013-01-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136433392

The rapid development of democracy and political freedoms has created new and sophisticated psychology-based methods of influencing the way voters choose, as well as political systems based on free market principles. A Cross-Cultural Theory of Voter Behavior uses advanced empirical testing to determine whether the behavior of voters in established and emerging democracies around the world is predictable. The results of the testing suggest the theory is a ground-breaking cross-cultural model with theoretical and strategic global implications. This unique book examines the many facets of political marketing and its direct relationship with the voter. A comprehensive theory meticulously tested in the dynamic political waters of the U.S. and Europe, this text bridges the latest theoretical developments in the emerging and advanced democracies. A Cross-Cultural Theory of Voter Behavior offers an innovative and seldom seen international perspective that integrates up-to-date literature in political science with advanced political marketing to provide readers with useable, unified information. In addition, the text is replete with detailed references and illustrated with a wealth of informative tables and graphics to made pertinent data accessible and easily understood. Some of the topics discussed in A Cross-Cultural Theory of Voter Behavior include politics in an age of manufactured images, partisanship and party identification, candidate-centered politics, political cognition, social categorization of politicians, the role of advertising and emotion, among others. An ideal text for students, academics, and researchers, the information presented in A Cross-Cultural Theory of Voter Behavior is also a vital resource for political practitioners such as consultants, candidates, lobbyists, political action committees, fund-raisers, pollsters, government officials, ad specialists, journalists, public relations executives, and congressional aides.

Advanced Introduction to Elections and Voting

Advanced Introduction to Elections and Voting
Author: McAllister, Ian
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2022-09-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1802207511

Tackling the complex issues surrounding what shapes a person’s vote, this cutting-edge Advanced Introduction analyses the main findings in current research on electoral behavior to provide a comprehensive understanding of electoral choice.