Retrospective National Economic Appraisals and Shifts in Vote Preference Over Time During Political Campaigns
When citizens believe the economy is doing well, they reward the incumbent party by voting for its candidates, and if not, they punish the party by voting for the alternative. Past research at the individual level primarily focuses on the relationship between perceived economic conditions and vote preferences at single points in time. Two longitudinal studies show that perceived economic conditions at a given point in time also predict changes in vote choice over time at the individual level. Voters who believe the economy is performing poorly are not only more likely to vote for the non-incumbent party’s candidate, but those who initially state that they intended to vote for the incumbent party’s candidate also tend to change their mind by voting for the non-incumbent party. The pattern reverses for those who perceive the economy to be doing well. Cross-lagged panel analyses also suggest that economic perceptions and political preferences may have reciprocal effects on each other. Together, these results show that the effect of economic appraisals are more dynamic than the past individual-level literature implies.