The analysis of political behavior operates under the assumption that political behavior is not a special form of human activity, independent of what is known about general social behavior. (Political Behavior, 1968) The majority of political behavioral research is focused on identifying not only an individual’s behavior, but also with predicting the behavior of a group of people. It is understood that these groups do not exist without individuals; therefore, it is the individual dynamic that constitutes a collective group action. This is the focus of political behavioral research. The three widely accepted behavioral models of voter choice are: the sociological model, the social-psychological model, and the rational choice model. These three models diverge in methodology and application of research, but each has provided important data regarding the factors that influence voter choice. The first behavioral model is the sociological model, or the Columbia model. The sociological model is a product of the research conducted to explain the voting behavior of the 1940 presidential election. This model surveyed the residents of Erie County, Ohio and drew conclusions based on the data collected. “The sociological model uses group level characteristics such as SES, religion, and place of residence to explain how people vote” (Bond & Smith, 417). There are six sociological factors that are viewed as group characteristics that impact vote choice, and they are race, religion, gender, income, education, and family voting history. The important findings of the researched conducted includes, but is not limited to, determining that people tend to vote in the same way that they and their family has voted previously. The sociologica... ... middle of paper ... ..., the assumption that one must be informed in order to make a rational decision, thus following the pattern of rational choice, is highly conflictual with the research indicating that the majority of Americans are simply not well informed about politics. It is because of this limitation, that the social-psychological model, as well as the rational choice model, “continue to provide the most accepted explanations of voting behavior.” (Bond & Smith, 420). Being that no one model rejects the other models and methods of determining voting behavior, it is safe to say that all three models have played an important role in the development of the field of political science. The social-psychological model, as well as the rational choice model, are the two models that best predict voting behavior, as well as establishing possible causes of why people vote the way they do.
In addition, it isn’t feasible for a voter to comprehend the numerous offices and candidates in an election and how informed do voters need to be, in order for them to be confident in their choice. However, with the removal of straight-ticket voting, voter turnout may decrease, but the vote quality will increase due to an improved versed decision and in addition, an increase in the chance of a professional holding a government position. There are no excuses for voters to not be informed because there are various resources that determine an individual preferred political candidate. Through the use of the internet, websites offer political quizzes that matches a voter's beliefs with a candidate. For example, Isidewith.com is an online website that asks the participant various question about concerning issues in politics such as, abortion, , environmental, economic, and domestic policy issues. Based on the results, it will give the participant selections on the candidates that closely relates to their beliefs.
The United States national elections have been experiencing a steady decline of eligible voters showing up to vote. This steady decline has been ongoing since experiencing a significant increase in voter turnout from 1948 through 1960. Over the years there has been significant, meticulous research done to try to pinpoint the cause of the decline in voter turnout over years. All of this research has led to the production of an enormous number of literatures written on the perceived causes. The vast amount of literature produced has led to a number of competing explanations about this decline. The quest for the answer to the question of, why this decline in voter turnout, is very important for an overwhelming majority of Americans and our democratic system because the people/voters can only truly be represented by our government if all eligible voters go out and vote. For this paper I will examine four theories that attempt to explain the decline. The four theories that I will discuss are voting barriers, campaign contributions, negative campaign advertising, and finally the cultural explanation. However, through thorough exploration and critiques of the strengths and weaknesses of these four theories, we will find that the cultural explanation theory is currently the most persuasive theory in the group. Finally, I will also explore some reasons as to why citizens do vote as well.
Among the many ways Americans can participate in politics, voting is considered one of the most common and important ways for Americans to get involved. The outcome of any election, especially at the national level, determines who will be making and enforcing the laws that all Americans must abide by. With this in mind one might assume that all Americans are active voters, but studies show the voter turnout is actually astonishingly low. With this unsettling trend it is important to know what statistics say about voter turnout as was as the four major factors that influence participation: Socioeconomic status, education, political environment, and state electoral laws, in order to help boost turnout in future elections.
...udgetary ideas to political conduct is off base. However the essential choice making technique that individuals confront inside the political world is close enough that scientists and professionals have beneficially utilized some budgetary ideas to deal with the variables influencing voters' choices.
Perrella, Andrea. “Overview of Voter Behaviour Theories. In Elections, Edited by Heather MacIvor. 221-249.Toronto: Emond Montgomery Publications, 2010.
Evidence: Wendell manually conducted an interview during the 2008 election and suggested that people were more politically engaged near election day. He termed this attitude as “media hype”, meaning people in reality are not politically engaged. Aside from this, he conducted a survey to determine the amount of people that classify themselves as being “political”. To his conclusions, he found out that the majority of people were “politically aware”; however, they obtained their information via the broadcast media. Hence, people are not necessarily developing their own opinions, rather they are following a cultural trend.
As referred to in Campbell, the perceptual screen plays a strong role in voters when it comes to viewing issues and their own ideology. Thus, individuals only tend to see issues that are closely aligned with their own ideological views. That is, voters will lean more with issues that are dominating our society and their preferred party’s way of handling the matter.
Voting participation is one of the most common controversies in today’s society. Thom File of the Young Adult Voting: An Analysis of Presidential Elections, 1964-2012 states that, “Voting rates, which represent the number of voters relative to a given population or subpopulation, have varied across recent election cycles with the general outcome being that voting rates increase with age. In every presidential election since 1964, young voters between the ages of 18 through 24 have consis-tently voted at lower rates than all other age groups, although young-adult voting rates have fluctuated from one election to another (Young Adult Voting: An Analysis of Presidential Elections,
When examining voting behavior over time, there are two areas one must look at to gain a better understanding of the process. The first, is why people vote the way they do, and the second looks at the individuals voting pattern over time. Since 1960, The American Voter, written by Campbell, Converse, Miller & Stokes, is still considered one of the most controversial pieces in the field of public opinion and election studies. Although there are numerous areas of exploration, the main purpose of this book was to further examine the psychological relationship of the voter from pre-adolescence to casting the tangible vote and the effects of parent-child socialization. A crucial argument presented states that party identification is the most important
America’s low voter turnout has been attributed to by the political parties’ failure to enliven the potential voters with the awareness and competitiveness in elections and the overall difficulty of the registration and voting process. The research portion of this project was predominantly provided from four books focused on voter turnout, whether it was perceived to be increasing or decreasing. The article used was found using one of the books and altogether the sources provided analytical and institutional perspectives on American voter turnout. I believe voter turnout, along with voter registration is steadily declining in America due to multiple factors, though the topics touched on above are largely impacting us today.
Such factors are their educational background, socioeconomic status, gender and other demographics. There will be a definite difference between a person who has an excellent academic background and a person who does not have such qualification. In the same way, socioeconomic status of a person also decides how well a person engages politically (Riedel and Sullivan, 2001). For instance, an individual who comes from a very lower class will not pay heed to political system of the country because his basic concern is to feed his children and family. His priorities will be different from a person who has all basic necessities. In the same way a middle aged person who has an adequate knowledge and experience regarding the political system of a country and a young person who is just an amateur will have significant differences of political attitudes and political efficacy. So attitudes and experiences also affect the political efficacy and ultimately the voting behaviors of the individuals (Sheerin and Celia Anne, 2007). Mass Media is one of the tools to build these attitudes and political
According to one of rational choice theory’s prominent and more thoughtful contemporary exponents, Peter C. Ordeshook, “four books mark the beginning of modern political theory: Anthony Downs’s An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957), Duncan Black’s Theory of Committees and Elections (1958), William H. Riker’s A Theory of Political Coalitions (1962), and James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock’s The Calculus of Consent (1962). These volumes, along with Kenneth Arrow’s Social Choice and Individual Values (1951), began such a wealth of research that political scientists today have difficulty digesting and synthesizing all but small parts of it. Consequently, the full value of this research often goes unrealized…” (Ordeshook 1986, ix)
It is odd to look at psychological factors to answer this question, but they can be of valuable help in the search for a correct response. Giving people a vote, whether or not that vote is decisive in the adoption of certain polic...
The Rational-Activist Model in which voters use elections as a policy expression. Individual citizens are expected to be informed politically, involved, rational, and above all, active (pg 19). This model puts a burden on citizens who are expected to be informed and vote accordingly.
As progressively more accepted interdisciplinary and multi-method approach, which has now become a need of time, for interpreting in detail political phenomena at individual-level, the rapidly growing field of political psychology has made significant strides in illuminating the processes that are hidden behind the political affiliations, attitudes, feelings, decision making, behavior and above all in the interaction among the individual and group. For this reason, it is in a exceptional position to perk up the explanatory power of research in both psychology and political science that surrounds the national and international relations that either directly or indirectly deals with the individual psychology.