The Role of Personality Traits, Cooperative Behaviour and Trust in Governments on the Brexit Referendum Outcome

We analyse the role of personality traits along with individuals’ cooperative behaviour, level of trust in the UK government and the European Council (EC, the body that defines the European Union’s overall political direction and priorities) and socio-demographics on UK citizens’ voting choices on the 2016 Brexit referendum. We use data from a survey conducted in April 2019 on 530 UK citizens who voted in the 2016 Brexit referendum. We use a Probit model to investigate what role voters’ personality traits, their trust in government institutions, their level of cooperative behaviour and socio-demographics played in the way they voted. We find voters’ choice was associated voters’ personality traits. In particular, voters associated with being extraverted, acting with self-confidence and outspokenness (i.e., agency), and voters’ closeness to experience, to forming part of a diverse community and the exchange of ideas and experiences were found to be associated with voting for Brexit in the 2016 referendum. We found that voters’ willingness to cooperate with others was associated with being less likely to vote for Brexit. In addition, voters who trusted the UK government were more likely to vote for Brexit, whereas voters trusting the EC were more likely to vote for the UK to stay in the EU. We also found that voters with relatively high level of education were less likely to vote for Brexit and voters not seeking jobs were more likely to vote for Brexit than students, unemployed and retired. We conclude that incorporating personality profiles of voters, their pro-social behaviour as well as their views on trust in politicians/government institutions, along with socio-demographic variables, into individuals’ vote choice analysis can account for voter heterogeneity and provide a more complete picture of an individual’s vote choice decisions, helping to gain a better understanding of individual vote choices (e.g., better predictions of future individual vote intentions).

Religion, Gender, and Representation in American Politics

ABSTRACT Several recent analyses have examined the effects of religious beliefs, belonging, and behaviors on the representation of women in American politics. Taken collectively, these studies present an interesting puzzle. Specifically, they demonstrate that religious adherents express attitudes that are less supportive of women in positions of political leadership and that at every stage of the process, from primary candidacy to general-election victory, women are less likely to run and win in districts with greater numbers of religious adherents. However, this does not appear to be the result of even the most devout voters’ unwillingness to support women candidates in general elections. This body of work, therefore, suggests that the effect of religion on the representation of women manifests at earlier stages of the process, including individual vote choice in primary elections, party and elite recruitment, and potential candidates’ strategic entry decisions.

Wybory samorządowe w Norwegii. Przykład obywatelskości w ugruntowanej demokracji lokalnej

The main aim of this paper is to present the issues concerning local elections in Norway. The following timeframe was adopted: from the date of passing the first bill on local government (1837), to the comprehensive description of the municipal and provincial elections held in 2011, 2015, 2019. The electoral system for Norwegian local government allows all social groups and local electoral committees to be represented in local government. This is proved by: the ability to ‘create’ their own electoral registers by adding new names on ballots, a large number of political entities seeking mandates, the way of counting votes and the distribution of seats in councils. The proportional system of counting votes in Norway (applying the modified Sainte-Laguё method) is connected with the opportunity to cast an individual vote (the principle of proportional representation). This solution enables numerous political groups and local committees to stand for election. Moreover, women have a sufficient representation in local governments to exert a real impact on the decision-making process. Such an electoral system is open to foreigners who, after fulfilling specific requirements, have the right to vote and be elected.

Accessible Elections

This book explores the wide variation across states in convenience voting methods—absentee/mail voting, in-person early voting, same day registration—and provides new empirical analysis of the beneficial effects of these policies, not only in increasing voter turnout overall, but for disadvantaged groups. By measuring both convenience methods and implementation of the laws, the book improves on previous research. It draws generalizable conclusions about how these laws affect voter turnout by using population data from the fifty state voter files. Using individual vote histories, the design helps avoid bias in non-random assignment of states in adopting the laws. Many scholars and public officials have dismissed state election reform laws as failing to significantly increase turnout or address inequality in who votes. Accessible Elections underscores how state governments can modernize their election procedures to increase voter turnout and influence campaign and party mobilization strategies. Mail voting and in-person early voting are particularly important in the wake of Covid-19 to avoid election day crowds and ensure successful and equitable elections in states with large populations; the results of this study can help state governments more rapidly update voting for the 2020 general election and beyond.

Introduction

Ballot box voting has great value, but it also has significant flaws. Individual voters almost never significantly affect the outcome of an election. They therefore have little in the way of meaningful political choice. The insignificance of the individual vote also ensures that ballot box voters have little incentive to become well-informed, and therefore often make poor decisions. Voting with your feet—or “foot voting”—is in many ways a superior alternative. You can vote with your feet between jurisdictions in a federal system, through international migration, and in the private sector. Foot voting offers individuals a chance to make decisions that actually matter. Consequently, foot voters tend to seek out information and use it wisely. The purpose of this book is to show how the advantages of foot voting of all three types make it a powerful tool for expanding political freedom. The last part of the Introduction provides an overview of the remaining chapters in the book.

Student Response - Based Learning: A Strategy for Improving Student Participation in Learning

In the context of 21st century learning, to achieve meaningful learning processes, one of the important elements is interaction. Student response - based learning can be used to actively involve students in the learning process. The study focused on stages of the learning process based on student responses and student responses to the learning. Formulation of the research problem is following: (1) how are the stages of the learning process based on student responses to increasing student participation in learning ?; (2) how is the student response to student response based learning? The research objectives are: (1) increasing the active participation of students in learning through conditioning the learning environment; and (2) describing the steps of the student response-based learning process. The research conducted is a research development. Conclusion of the results of the study: first, the stages of the student response-based learning process (learning model syntax) are (a) uploading teaching materials; (b) Question Individual Vote; (c) Peer Discussion; (d) Second Vote; (e) Whole-class Discussion. These learning steps can increase student participation in learning. Second, students generally give positive responses to student response based learning. A positive response is given to the factor of the variable (a) explanation; (b) facilitation; (c) value; (d) positivity; (e) distraction; and (f) participation.

Bill Clinton, Republican Strategy, and the 1994 Elections: How Midterms Become Referenda on the President

The surprising 1994 midterm congressional election gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives for the first time in four decades and offers an opportunity to study the dynamics of a referendum on the president. District-level contextual data on Republicans’ anti-Clinton campaign themes are used to demonstrate the dynamic of creating a presidential referendum in a midterm election. Making President Clinton a focus of the campaign within the constituency decreased the probability of an individual voter casting a ballot for the Democratic congressional candidate, heightened the impact of Clinton’s popularity on individual vote choice; and decreased the aggregate vote percentages for the Democratic candidates. It is unmistakable that highlighting the president’s job performance and his policies at the district level transformed the midterm congressional election into a presidential referendum.

Think Twice before Jumping on the Bandwagon: Clarifying Concepts in Research on the Bandwagon Effect

The potential influence of perceived popularity of political parties or candidates on individual vote choice is most commonly studied in terms of a ‘bandwagon effect’. However, there is confusion over exactly what the bandwagon effect is. In this article, I seek to remedy this confusion by providing a clear definition and typology of bandwagon effects, grounded in a review which reappraises existing scholarship. I argue that the bandwagon effect is a distinct social phenomenon involving an individual-level change in vote choice or turnout decision towards a more or increasingly popular candidate or party, motivated initially by this popularity. I then break this down employing a typology which draws on distinctions made in the literature between static and dynamic, and conversion and mobilisation effects. This conception of the bandwagon effect leaves it open to the operation of a variety of possible underlying processes. Scholars should apply such clear concepts as are proposed here in bandwagon research, to situate and clarify their contributions theoretically and offer a more nuanced understanding of whether, how and why bandwagon effects occur across different political contexts.

Ticket Splitting in a Nationalized Era

Many believe that party loyalty in U.S. elections has reached heights unprecedented in the post-war era, although this finding relies on evidence from presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial elections. If party labels are a heuristic, we would expect party-line voting to be even more dominant in lower-information elections. Yet, here I show that the prevalence of ticket splitting in state and local offices is often similar to or higher than in national offices because of larger incumbency advantages and starker candidate valence differentials. Because neither surveys nor election returns have been able to reliably measure individual vote choice in downballot races, I introduce an underused source of voter data: cast vote records. I create a database from voting machines that reveals the vote choices of 6.6 million voters for all offices on the long ballot, and I design a clustering algorithm tailored to such ballot data. In contrast to ticket splitting rates of 5 to 7 percent in US House races, about 15 to 20 percent of voters split their ticket in a modal Sheriff race. Even in a nationalized politics, a fraction of voters still cross party lines to vote for the more experienced candidate in state and local elections.

The Ethics of Voting

The first question that is often raised in a discussion of the ethics of voting is whether or not there is a duty to vote. The view that there is a duty to vote is supported by two main arguments. The first holds that since the value of democratic governance is high persons should vote to preserve stable democracy. The second is that there is a duty to vote because if nobody voted the effects would be disastrous. The first of these arguments is criticized by Jason Brennan, who holds that since each individual vote will play little to no role in preserving stable democracy nobody has a duty to vote. The second is criticized by Loren Lomasky and Geoffrey Brennan, who argue that it is incomplete unless its supporters can show that democracy needs everyone to vote to continue. The question of whether there is a duty to vote naturally leads to the question of whether it is permissible for persons to vote in their own self-interest. Jason Brennan argues that persons should only (morally) vote for candidates or policies that they are justified in believing would promote the common good. It is unclear, however, what “the common good” consists of. This discussion of the morality of voting in one’s self-interest leads to the question of whether voting for a politician because she has made campaign promises is morally analogous to a voter selling her vote. In discussing this issue it is important to distinguish between the “restricted” defense of markets in votes (that the purchased votes are to be cast in favor of what the buyer is justified in believing is the common good) and the “unrestricted” defense of such a market (that purchased votes can be cast in any way the buyer pleases). Much of this discussion focuses on the morality of unrestricted markets in votes. Christopher Freiman has offered four main arguments in favor of such a market: (1) that it will make both the buyer and the seller better off; (2) that it is required by respect for voter liberty; (3) that it is relevantly similar to other practices that are currently allowed, such as logrolling; and (4) that it would enable electoral outcomes to better express voter preferences. None of these arguments are persuasive. The first is based on illicitly inferring from the claim that persons would voluntarily buy and sell votes if a market were allowed to the claim that they would thereby desire that this market be allowed. The second argument is flawed because if some persons would prefer that a market not be allowed, this could provide a sufficient reason to restrict their liberty by precluding them from selling their votes. The third argument overlooks important disanalogies between votes traded between voters, and votes traded between legislators. The fourth argument is based on the implausible assumption that vote sellers would not misrepresent their political preferences in a market for votes.