However, we see that this is not always true and that there are parties that propose more extreme policies that receive considerable electoral support. (Second edition.) It is a paradigm that does not only explain from the macro-political point of view an electoral choice, but there is the other side of the coin which is to explain the choice that the parties make. That is called the point of indifference. 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. HUr0c:*+ $ifrh b98ih+I?v1q7q>. An important factor is the role of political campaigns in influencing the vote. 5. Psychology and Voting Behavior In the same years that behaviorism (of various forms) came to dominate the The theory of partisan competition was completely eliminated by the other types of explanations. The concept and this theory was developed in the United States by political scientists and sociologists and initially applied to the American political system with an attachment to the Democratic Party rather than the Republican Party. Misalignment creates greater electoral volatility that creates a change in the party system that can have a feedback on the process of alignment, misalignment or realignment. This model relies heavily on the ability of voters to assess and calculate their own interests and all the costs associated with the action of going to the polls. Even more plausibly, election campaigns are built around several issues. If certain conditions are present, such as good democratic functioning within the party, activists will have the opportunity to exercise "voice" and influence positions. 65, no. trailer 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. Later, their analysis saw that party identification and attachment was the most common factor. Psychological Models of American Voting Behavior* DAVID KNOKE, Indiana University ABSTRACT A path model of the presidential vote involving social variables, party identification, issue orientations, . A set of theories has given some answers. The spatial theory of the vote postulates that the electoral choice is made in the maximization of individual utility. One important element of this model must be highlighted in relation to the others. . If voters, who prefer more extreme options, no longer find these options within the party they voted for, then they will look elsewhere and vote for another party. startxref The Lazarsfeld model would link membership and voting. JSTOR. There are different strategies that are put in place by voters in a conscious or unconscious way to reduce these information costs, which are all the costs associated with the fact that in order to be able to evaluate the utility income given by one party rather than another, one has to go and see, listen, hear and understand what these parties are saying. Voters will vote for a party but that party is not necessarily the one with which they identify. A unified theory of voting: directional and proximity spatial models. As far as the psycho-sociological model is concerned, it has the merit of challenging the classical theory of democracy which puts the role on the rational actor. Comparative Political Studies, 27(2), 155189. Therefore, they cannot really situate where the different parties stand. This theory is not about the formation of political preferences, they start from the idea that there are voters with certain political preferences and then these voters will look at what the offer is and will choose according to that offer. Moreover, retrospective voting can also be seen as a shortcut. The third criterion is rationality, which is that based on the theory of rational choice, voters mobilize the limited means at their disposal to achieve their goals, so they will choose the alternative among the political offer that costs them the least and brings them the greatest possible benefit. This ensures congruence and proximity between the party and the electorate. 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. Partisan attachment is at the centre of the graph influencing opinions on certain issues being discussed or the attitudes of certain candidates. The specified . One must assess the value of one's own participation and also assess the number of other citizens who will vote. 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. What is partisan identification? The advantage of the intensity directional model is that it goes in a more intense direction, i.e. What determines direction? On the other hand, preferences for candidates in power are best explained by the proximity model and the simple directional model. 135150. 0000003292 00000 n Voting for a candidate from one party in one race and for the other party's candidate in another race is known as. Cross-pressure theory entered political science via the analysis of voting behavior at Columbia University (Lazarsfeld et al. In other words, this identification is part of the self-image one can have of oneself. The aspect is based on the idea that there is an information problem that represents a difficulty and costs that voters must pay to gather information and to become informed about an election. It is possible to determine direction based on the "neutral point" which is the point in the middle, or it is also possible to determine direction from the "status quo". 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. Fiorina's theory of retrospective voting is very simple. The first answer is that basically, they vote according to their position, according to their social characteristics or according to their socialization, which refers to the sociological model. Economic theories of voting explain both voter turnout (1) and electoral choice (2). the difference in the cost-benefit ratio that different parties give. Pages pour les contributeurs dconnects en savoir plus. In other words, social, spatial or group membership largely determines individual political actions. Candidate choices are made towards parties or candidates who are going in the same direction as the voter, this being understood as the voters' political preferences on a given issue. In other words, there is the idea of utility maximization which is a key concept in rational choice theory, so the voter wants to maximize his utility and his utility is calculated according to the ratio between the cost and the benefit that can be obtained from the action, in this case going to vote (1) and going to vote for that party rather than this one (2). 0000000929 00000 n 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. There are other cleavages that cut across Republicans and Democrats that should be taken into account to explain the pattern. Value orientations refer to materialism as well as post-materialism, among other things, cleavages but no longer from a value perspective. 0000006260 00000 n The original measurement was very simple being based on two questions which are a scale with a question about leadership. He wanted to look for one thing and found something else. In other words, a directional element is introduced into the proximity model. So, we are going to the extremes precisely because we are trying to mobilize an electorate. On the basis of this, we can know. 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. We have to be careful, because when we talk about political psychology, we include that, but we also include the role of cognitions and rationality. 0000009473 00000 n Some have criticized this model saying that it puts forward the one-dimensional image of the human being and politics, that is, that it is purely rational, hypercognitive in a way without taking into account sociological but also psychological elements. Voting for a party and continuing to vote for such a party repeatedly makes it possible to develop an identification with that party which, in a way, then reinforces the electoral choice. All parties that are in the same direction of the voter maximize the individual utility of that voter. It is possible to create a typology that distinguishes between four approaches crossing two important and crucial elements: "is voting spatial? Numbers abound, since we have seen that, in the end, both models systematically have a significant effect. The answer to this second question will allow us to differentiate between proximity models and directional models because these two subsets of the spatial theories of voting give diametrically opposite answers to this question. The external factors would be the factors that, in the basic theory of the psycho-sociological approach, it would seem that this is what can do but if we have a certain partisan attachment to vote for another party because we are influenced by one or other of these factors but, basically, we keep our partisan attachment and the next time when these factors change, we return to the normal vote corresponding to the partisan attachment. Proximity models will give certain proximity related answers and the other more recent models offer an alternative answer based on certain criticisms. Another possible strategy is to rely on the judgment of others such as opinion leaders. 2, 1957, pp. Partisan identification becomes stronger over time. Hinich and Munger say the opposite, saying that on the basis of their idea of the left-right positioning of the parties, they somehow deduce what will be or what is the position of these parties on the different issues. 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. It is a theory that makes it possible to explain both the voting behaviour of voters and the organisational behaviour of political parties. In Person: 971 W Duval St. Ste. Hirschman wanted to explain what happens in organizations when they enter a situation of crisis or decline. What is interesting is that they try to relate this to personality traits such as being open, conscientious, extroverted, pleasant and neurotic. It is a very detailed literature today. It is the idea of when does one or the other of these different theories provide a better explanation according to periods of political alignment or misalignment. Sociological Model (Columbia Model) Social-Psychological Model (Michigan Model) Economic / Rational Choice Model (Rochester Model) 5 Sociological Model. Parties do not try to maximize the vote, but create images of society, forge identities, mobilize commitments for the future. changes in voting behaviour from one election to the next. 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. Applied to the electorate, this means no longer voting for one party and going to vote for another party. There was a whole series of critics who said that if it's something rational, there's a problem with the way democracy works. 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. The economic model makes predictions and tries to explain both the participation but also, and above all, the direction of the vote, which is the electoral choice. European Journal of Political Research, 54(2), 197215. This model shows that there is more than political identities, partisan identification and social inking. 0000000866 00000 n 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. endstream endobj 44 0 obj <> endobj 45 0 obj <> endobj 46 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>> endobj 47 0 obj <> endobj 48 0 obj <> endobj 49 0 obj <> endobj 50 0 obj <> endobj 51 0 obj <>stream Ecological regression represents one extreme: the presumption that voting behavior changes systematically across groups but only changes randomly, if at all, within groups. party loyalties are freed from their social base and thus these party identifications are formed and crystallized. Also called the Columbia model (after the university from whence came the researchers), the sociological model of voting behavior was constructed with the intention of studying the effect of media on voting choice. Certain developments in the theory of the psycho-sociological model have in fact provided answers to these criticisms. 0000011193 00000 n There are two variations. 43 17 The presupposition for spatial theories of voting has already been mentioned, namely the stake vote. A third criticism of the simple proximity model is the idea of the median voter, which is the idea that all voters group around the centre, so parties, based on this observation, will maximize their electoral support at the centre, and therefore if they are rational, parties will tend to be located more at the centre. But there are studies that also show that the causal relationship goes in the other direction. This diagram shows the process of misalignment with changes in the generational structure and changes in the social structure that create political misalignment. Furthermore, "social characteristics determine political preferences". Contenu disponible en Franais Contenido disponible en espaol Contenuto disponibile in italiano, The distinction between the three main explanatory models of voting is often found. We need to find identification measures adapted to the European context, which the researchers have done. It is possible to attribute some merits and some criticisms to this model at least in its initial formulation. We worked with a sample of 516 Argentinean adults, aged 18 to 75. By Phone: (386) 758-1026 ext. There is an opposite reasoning. These studies model individual utility from the election of a preferred party or candidate as decreasing as the alternative deviates from one's ideal point, but differ as to whether this loss should be modeled linearly or quadratically. 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