Resources and Incentives for Issue Voting

Abstract

Democratic theory assumes that citizens choose parties and candidates that align well with their own preferences and opinions. Therefore, it is normatively preferred that citizens rely on ‘substantive’ criteria, such as issues, when deciding whom to vote for. From the empirical literature on voting behaviour, we know that there are different ways in which issues can guide voters’ choices. Issue positions matter, as is evident from work on proximity voting and directional theories of issue voting (Rabinowitz & MacDonald, 1989; Joesten & Stone, 2012). We also know that parties are chosen on the basis of what are salient issues on Election Day (Bélanger & Meguid, 2008). Finally, a rich literature has shown that citizens systematically associate some parties with particular issues and issue ownership affects voters’ choices as well (Walgrave, Lefevere & Tresch, 2012). Even though ideally, voters’ choices are based on a comparison of parties’ programs and candidates’ issue positions, citizens who turn out to vote on Election Day regularly fall short of such high standards. A major challenge for scholars of issue voting is to investigate which voters meet such high standards, and under which conditions electorates are more likely to rely on issues. This panel invites papers that take on this challenge and that investigate individual-level heterogeneity in issue voting (e.g., based on political sophistication or partisanship). Furthermore, papers that examine the contextual-level factors that explain levels of issue voting - such as electoral competitiveness - are welcome as well. The papers that will be presented in this panel can be comparative or based on an in-depth analysis of a single election or country.