The Effects of Compulsory Voting on Individuals

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-132
Author(s):  
Shane P. Singh
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Political Sophistication ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
The Comparative Study

This chapter empirically tests the expectation that compulsory voting moderates the effects of orientations toward democracy on political attitudes, behavior, and sophistication. It first employs cross-national survey data from the AmericasBarometer and the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems to estimate multilevel models. It also uses cross-cantonal data from the Swiss Election Study, and novel survey data from Argentina collected for this book. The analyses of the Swiss and Argentine data leverage age-based thresholds in the application of compulsory voting with discontinuity models. Results suggest that, in line with the predictions of the theory advanced in Chapter 3, compulsory voting polarizes behavior and attitudes, and broadens gaps in political sophistication levels, among those with negative and positive orientations toward democracy.

The Effects of Compulsory Voting on Political Parties

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-166
Author(s):  
Shane P. Singh
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Multilevel Analyses ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
The Comparative Study

Chapter 7 test the expectations about compulsory voting’s effects on political parties. Analyses shown in the first part of the chapter leverage data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems and the original survey data from Argentina. The results are somewhat perfunctory but suggest that parties may expend less effort mobilizing turnout under strict obligatory voting, especially of ideological moderates. The latter portion of the chapter presents multilevel analyses of data from the Comparative Manifestos Project. As anticipated in Chapter 6, it finds that mainstream parties de-emphasize ideologically salient issues in order to moderate their stances under enforced compulsory voting. It also finds some evidence that, as predicted, non-mainstream parties take more extreme positions where voters are compelled to the polls.

Digital Campaigning across Space

2020 ◽  
pp. 44-71
Author(s):  
Rachel K. Gibson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Multilevel Modeling ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Voter Mobilization ◽  
Internet Penetration ◽  
Digital Campaigning ◽  
The Comparative Study

This chapter examines developments in digital campaigning in comparative perspective. It does so using survey data from Wave 4 of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) to measure the extent of digital voter contact occurring in eighteen countries (2011–2015). Based on the understanding that extensive voter mobilization is a key feature of a country’s entry into phase IV digital campaigning, the authors infer which nations have progressed more rapidly through the four phases, and are thus most advanced in their use of digital campaign tools. Using this measure, they find that the United States is the most advanced nation and Thailand the least. They investigate the rankings more systematically using multilevel modeling techniques, and find that presidential elections and higher internet penetration rates are most predictive of higher rates of digital campaign contact. The results are helpful in building expectations about the digital campaign performance of the four national case studies.

scholarly journals Remembering One’s Representative: How District Magnitude and List Type Affect Candidate Recognition

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 786-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Van Coppenolle
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Differential Effect ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
List Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
District Magnitude ◽  
The Comparative Study

District magnitude and list type shape the incentives for politicians to develop a personal vote. If voters also react to these strategies, their knowledge about candidates should be influenced by these features of the electoral system. This article directly tests the responsiveness of voters by employing individual-level survey data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. As district magnitude increases, more people remember at least one candidate in closed list systems, but there is no such effect in open list systems. These influences are also larger for non-voters than for voters. A measure of political contact is not affected in this way. The differential effect of district magnitude can be explained by a different campaign focus.

Is the Personal Always Political?

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny Osborne ◽  
Yannick Dufresne ◽  
Gregory Eady ◽  
Jennifer Lees-Marshment ◽  
Cliff van der Linden
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Openness To Experience ◽  
Political Sophistication ◽  
Knowledge Based

Abstract. Research demonstrates that the negative relationship between Openness to Experience and conservatism is heightened among the informed. We extend this literature using national survey data (Study 1; N = 13,203) and data from students (Study 2; N = 311). As predicted, education – a correlate of political sophistication – strengthened the negative relationship between Openness and conservatism (Study 1). Study 2 employed a knowledge-based measure of political sophistication to show that the Openness × Political Sophistication interaction was restricted to the Openness aspect of Openness. These studies demonstrate that knowledge helps people align their ideology with their personality, but that the Openness × Political Sophistication interaction is specific to one aspect of Openness – nuances that are overlooked in the literature.

scholarly journals Winning, Losing, and the Quality of Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172110261
Author(s):  
Richard Nadeau ◽  
Jean-François Daoust ◽  
Ruth Dassonneville
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Motivated Reasoning ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Electoral Democracy ◽  
Democratic Systems ◽  
The Comparative Study

Citizens who voted for a party that won the election are more satisfied with democracy than those who did not. This winner–loser gap has recently been found to vary with the quality of electoral democracy: the higher the quality of democracy, the smaller the gap. However, we do not know what drives this relationship. Is it driven by losers, winners, or both? And Why? Linking our work to the literature on motivated reasoning and macro salience and benefiting from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems project—covering 163 elections in 51 countries between 1996 and 2018, our results show that the narrower winner–loser gap in well-established electoral democracies is not only a result of losers being more satisfied with democracy, but also of winners being less satisfied with their victory. Our findings carry important implications since a narrow winner–loser gap appears as a key feature of healthy democratic systems.

scholarly journals Retrospective Voting and the Polarization of Available Alternatives

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Stiers ◽  
Ruth Dassonneville
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Performance Evaluations ◽  
Retrospective Voting ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Ideological Polarization ◽  
Clarity Of Responsibility ◽  
Ideological Differences ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Comparative Study

AbstractGovernment cohesiveness is known to moderate retrospective voting. While previous work on this topic has focused on characteristics of the government, we build on the literature on clarity of responsibility and the literature on valence to argue that the extent to which government and opposition are ideologically distinct also moderates retrospective voting. Two alternative expectations follow from these two theoretical perspectives. While the clarity of responsibility framework leads to the expectation that a larger difference between government and opposition will strengthen retrospective voting, the valence literature presumes that retrospective voting is stronger when ideological differences are small. Using the data of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) project, we find evidence that is in line with the clarity of responsibility framework: the higher the degree of ideological polarization between government and opposition, the larger the effect of retrospective performance evaluations on the vote.

Right populist parties and support for strong leaders

2020 ◽  
pp. 135406882092085
Author(s):  
Todd Donovan
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
World Values Survey

This article tests if radical right populist (RRP) parties draw support from voters with non-mainstream, illiberal attitudes. This follows from assumptions that these parties have rhetorical, stylistic and practical critiques of liberal democracy that appeal to people with politically authoritarian attitudes. I use Module 5 Comparative Study of Electoral Systems data and Wave 7 World Values Survey data to test how authoritarian attitudes, in particular, approval of strong, unchecked leaders, may be associated with support for RRP parties. Of 12 unique cases where RRP parties received at least 5% support in a recent election, in most cases preferences for strong, unchecked leaders differentiated RRP party supporters from supporters of other parties generally, and from supporters of centre-right parties. In some cases, negative views of democracy, and acceptance of army rule, also characterized RRP supporters. Most cases have evidence consistent with the hypotheses, with the strongest evidence from supporters of Austria’s FPÖ and Germany’s AfD.

scholarly journals The interplay of economic vote dimensions: inequality, redistribution preferences and support for incumbents

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Slaven Živković
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Income Redistribution ◽  
Economic Voting ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Economic Vote ◽  
The Comparative Study

AbstractEconomic voting is multidimensional (covering valence, patrimony and positional dimensions), and a growing number of research contributions have explored the existence and strength of the effect of these dimensions on voting. However, we know comparatively little about the interplay between these dimensions. This article fills that void by focusing on how the interplay between the rise of income inequality (the valence dimension) and redistribution preferences (the positional dimension) influences support for incumbents. Using the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) Modules 4 and 5, I find that preferences for income redistribution reduce the likelihood of voters supporting incumbent parties. Modest evidence demonstrates that this relationship is stronger in countries where inequality increased to a greater degree between elections. Voters who want more redistribution tend to re-elect left-wing governments and want to throw out right-wing incumbents. However, rise of inequality hurts both left-wing and right-wing incumbents.

Party Finance and Perceived Party Responsiveness

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Costa Lobo ◽  
Isabella Razzuoli
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Important Implication ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Political Efficacy ◽  
The State ◽  
State Funding ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter investigates an important implication of the cartel party thesis: that parties’ shift from society towards the state has eroded voters’ sense of political efficacy. More precisely, it explores whether and to what extent parties’ financial dependence on the state shapes electors’ feelings about the responsiveness of parties. The authors do this by linking PPDB (Political Party Database) information with the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) data. The results of their analysis show that the relationship between level of state funding of parties and citizens’ perceptions of party responsiveness is positive, though not strong. This is contrary to the theoretical expectations suggested by the cartel thesis, in that electors voting for parties more dependent on the state are not more likely to have low feelings of political efficacy.

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