Voter Heterogeneity: How Facets of Cognitive Mobilization Moderate the Voter Decision-Making Process

The theory of cognitive mobilization is intensively discussed in political science research. Mainly based on findings of Dalton, it is argued that cognitive mobilized voters rely less on information shortcuts like a long-standing party attachment and more on short term factors, especially issue orientations. However, quite a lot of empirical results for the USA and Western Europe find more empirical support for the contrary: A positive relationship of education and political interest – as facets of cognitive mobilization – with partisanship. The paper contributes to this debate by taking a new perspective: The analysis of group-specific effects of the facets of cognitive mobilization as moderators for the voter decision making process. Referring to the Michigan-Model and drawing on survey data from the German Longitudinal Election Study it is analyzed how subgroups of the electorate differing in their level of education and political interest significantly differ in their voter decision making process as represented by the Michigan-Model. For the empirical analyses categorical Structural Equation Models and multiple group comparisons are used to systematically investigate possible differences and to reveal voter heterogeneity among these groups. The results show that highly educated and politically interested people evaluate the candidates and issues more independently from a party identification. However, direct effects on the voting decision differ only to a small extent between the groups. Therefore the findings show only limited support for the theory of cognitive mobilization, but find no evidence at all for the contrary view.