Journal article
Economic voting theory: Testing new dimensions
Electoral studies, Vol.30(2), pp.288-294
2011
DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2010.09.001
Abstract
Classical economic voting theory has received considerable empirical support. Voters reward the incumbent for good times, punish it for bad. But the success of this paradigm, which views the economy as strictly a valence issue, has crowded out testing of other theoretical dimensions. In particular, positional and patrimonial economic voting have hardly been examined. The former concerns the different preferences voters have on economic policy issues, such as progressive taxation. The latter concerns the place of voters in the economic structure itself, not merely as members of a social class but as actual property owners. Through analysis of a special battery of economic items, from a 2008 US presidential election survey, we demonstrate that the economy was important to voters in three ways: valence, position, and patrimony. Taken together, these dimensions go far as an explanation of vote choice, at least with respect to the short-term forces acting on this political behavior.
► Economy is important to voters in three ways: valence, position and patrimony. ► Policy preferences over the distribution of tax burden affect electoral choices. ► Ownership of property affects electoral choices.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Economic voting theory: Testing new dimensions
- Creators
- Michael Steven Lewis-Beck - Department of Political Science, University of Iowa, USARichard Nadeau - Department of Political Science, University of Montreal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3J7
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Electoral studies, Vol.30(2), pp.288-294
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.electstud.2010.09.001
- ISSN
- 0261-3794
- eISSN
- 1873-6890
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2011
- Academic Unit
- Political Science
- Record Identifier
- 9984025660202771
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