Journal article
An Empirical Examination of the Minimax Hypothesis
American Politics Research, Vol.17(2), pp.153-162
04/1989
DOI: 10.1177/1532673X8901700203
Abstract
In this article we examine empirically the minimax hypothesis. The hypothesis holds that individuals are motivated to incur the minimal costs of voting in order to avoid the maximum regret: Their preferred candidate losing by a single vote. The results of our study suggest that a substantial number of people apparently do employ a minimax decision-making process. Over one-third of the individuals interviewed reported sometimes worrying that if they abstain from voting their favorite candidate might lose. In addition, these respondents were significantly more likely than those who expressed no worry to claim they voted in 1984 and to say they planned to vote in 1986. And perhaps most intriguing, further analysis suggests that individuals may be more likely to employ minimax decision making than expected utility decision making.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- An Empirical Examination of the Minimax Hypothesis
- Creators
- Patrick J Kenney - Arizona State UniversityTom W Rice - University of Vermont
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- American Politics Research, Vol.17(2), pp.153-162
- Publisher
- Sage Publications; Thousand Oaks, CA
- DOI
- 10.1177/1532673X8901700203
- ISSN
- 1532-673X
- eISSN
- 1552-3373
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 04/1989
- Academic Unit
- Political Science
- Record Identifier
- 9983988987202771
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