From the parties' perspective, this model makes different predictions than the simple proximity model, which made a prediction of convergence of a centripetal force with respect to party positioning. These studies model individual utility from the election of a preferred party or candidate as decreasing as the alternative deviates from one's ideal point, but differ as to whether this loss should be modeled linearly or quadratically. One of the merits, which can be found in Lazarsfeld's book entitled The People's Choice published in 1944 is that this model marks a turning point in the study of political behaviour. On the other hand, to explain the electoral choice, we must take into account factors that are very far from the vote theoretically, but we must also take into account the fact that there are factors that are no longer close to the electoral choice during a vote or an election. One possible strategy to reduce costs is to base oneself on ideology. [15] Then we'll look at the space theories of the vote. In Switzerland, the idea of an issue is particularly important because there is direct democracy, which is something that by definition is based on issues. These two proximity models are opposed to two other models that are called directional models with Matthews' simple directional model but especially Rabinowitz's directional model with intensity. However, this is empirically incorrect. A first criticism that has been made is that the simple proximity model gives us a misrepresentation of the psychology of voting. From the perspective of the issue vote, there are four main ways to explain how and why voters are going to vote a certain way and why parties are going to position themselves. The extent to which the usefulness of voters' choices varies from candidate to candidate, but also from voter to voter. Beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there has been a strong development of directional models. Does partisan identification work outside the United States? There may be one that is at the centre, but there are also others that are discussed. On the basis of this analysis a behavioral model is constructed, which is then tested on data from a Dutch election survey. The influence of friends refers to opinion leaders and circles of friends. This creates a concern for circularity of reasoning. This theory presupposed that the voter recognizes his or her own interest, assesses alternative candidates, and on the basis of this assessment, will choose for the candidate or party that will be most favourably assessed in the sense of best serving his or her own political interests and interests. Voters try to maximize the usefulness of the vote, that is, they try to vote for the party that makes them more satisfied. There are other cleavages that cut across Republicans and Democrats that should be taken into account to explain the pattern. One can draw a kind of parallel with a loss of importance of the strength of partisan identification and also of the explanatory power of partisan identification. startxref There are several responses to criticisms of the proximity model. One of the answers within spatial theories is based on this criticism that voters are not these cognitively strong beings as the original Downs theory presupposes. the maximum utility is reached at the line level. For many, voting is a civic duty. In spring of 2021, key people working in homelessness services in Vancouver flew to San Diego to learn about the Alpha Project's model . It was this model that proposed that abstention can be the result of a purely rational calculation. All parties that are in the same direction of the voter maximize the individual utility of that voter. This is something that remains difficult in theory, we don't know how much the voter will discount. Is partisan identification one-dimensional? Then they evaluate their own position in relation to the issues and they do the same operation positioning themselves on this left-right axis. (Second edition.) While Downs said that there are parties that take positions on issues, the voter has difficulty with this inferring a position on a left-right axis. 0 This is the basic motivation for the development of these directional models. This economic theory of the vote, this rationalist theory, has a great advantage over the other models, which is that it does not only focus on voters, that is to say, it does not only focus on political demand, but it also looks at supply and especially at the interaction between supply and demand. The choice can be made according to different criteria, but they start from the assumption that there are these voters who arrive in an electoral process that refers to the idea of the hexogeneity of voters' preferences. Elections and voters: a comparative introduction. This model shows that there is more than political identities, partisan identification and social inking. Since the economic crisis, there has been an increasing focus on the economic crisis and economic conditions and how that can explain electoral volatility and electoral change. Voters try to maximize their individual utility. Several studies have shown that the very fact of voting for a party contributes to the development of a certain identification for that party. This electoral volatility, especially in a period of political misalignment, is becoming more and more important and is increasingly overshadowed by this type of explanation. There have been several phases of misalignment. The theoretical criticism consists in saying that in this psychosocial approach or in this vision that the psychosocial model has of the role of political issues, the evaluation of these issues is determined by political attitudes and partisan identification. The psycho-sociological model can be seen in the light of an explanatory contribution to the idea that social inking is a determining factor in explaining the vote, or at least on a theoretical level. All of these factors and their relationships have to be taken into account, but at the centre is always the partisan attachment. The reference work is The People's Choice published in 1948 by Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet. Some have another way of talking about convergences and showing how the theories explaining the vote can be reconciled with the process of political misalignment. Curiously, the intensity directional model that adds an element to the simple directional model chronologically precedes the simple directional model. Finally, in a phase of misalignment, this would be the economic model, since there is a loss of these partisan loyalties, so these voters become more and more reactive to political events and therefore may be more rational in their decision-making process. In this model, there is a region of acceptability of positional extremism which is a region outside of which the intensity of the positions or the direction shown by a party cannot go because if it goes beyond that region, the voter will no longer choose that party. 0000009473 00000 n In this approach, it is possible to say that the voter accepts the arguments of a certain party because he or she feels close to a party and not the opposite which would be what the economic model of the vote postulates, that is to say that we listen to what the party has to say and we will choose that party because we are convinced by what that party says. A third possible answer is that they will vote for the candidate whose political ideas are closest to their own. The vote is seen here as an instrument, that is to say, there is the idea of an instrumental vote and not an expressive one. The idea was that there were two possible responses that are put in place by members of that organization: one of "exit", to withdraw, to go to another organization. There are different strategies that are put in place by voters in a conscious or unconscious way to reduce these information costs, which are all the costs associated with the fact that in order to be able to evaluate the utility income given by one party rather than another, one has to go and see, listen, hear and understand what these parties are saying. It is a rather descriptive model, at least in its early stages. The scientific study of voting behavior is marked by three major research schools: the sociological model, often identified as School of Columbia, with the main reference in Applied Bureau of Social Research of Columbia University, whose work begins with the publication of the book The People's Choice (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet, 1944) Ecological regression represents one extreme: the presumption that voting behavior changes systematically across groups but only changes randomly, if at all, within groups. [8][9], The second very important model is the psycho-sociological model, also known as the partisan identification model or Michigan School model, developed by Campbell, Converse, Miller and Stokes in Campbell, Converse, Miller and Stokes, among others in The American Voter published in 1960. There is the important opposition between an economic vote based on a choice, which is the idea that the voter makes a real choice based on a cost-benefit calculation, a choice that is rational in the end according to Weber's typology, while the psycho-sociological vote is rather based on a concept of loyalty that often makes the opposition between choice and loyalty. it is an element of direction and not an element of distance or proximity that counts. First, they summarize the literature that has been interested in explaining why voters vary or differ in the stability or strength of their partisan identification. In this approach, these voters keep their partisan identification and again in the medium or long term, they will go back on the electoral choice that is identified with the partisan identification, also called the homing tendency, which is a tendency to go back on the party with which one identifies. Contenu disponible en Franais Contenido disponible en espaol Contenuto disponibile in italiano, The distinction between the three main explanatory models of voting is often found. What is partisan identification? The degree of political sophistication, political knowledge, interest in politics varies from voter to voter. The idea is that the extremist attitudes of those former voters who become party activists push strategic positioning in a direction that takes them away from their constituents. Four landmark studies connected with the presidential elections of 1940, 1948, 1952, and 1956 mark the establishment of scholarly survey-based research on voting behavior (Rossi 1959). <]>> We have to be careful, because when we talk about political psychology, we include that, but we also include the role of cognitions and rationality. how does partisan identification develop? Four questions can be asked in relation to this measure: For the first question, there are several studies on the fact that partisan identification is multi-dimensional and not just one-dimensional. The system in the United States is bipartisan and the question asked was "Do you consider yourself a Republican, Democrat or otherwise? it is easier to change parties from one election to the next; a phase of realignment (3), which consists of creating new partisan loyalties. The second criticism is the lack of an adequate theory of preference formation. Partisan identification becomes stronger over time. There are other theories that highlight the impact of economic conditions and how voters compare different election results in their electoral choices, which refers to economic voting in the strict sense of the term. Ideology can also be in relation to another dimension, for example between egalitarian and libertarian ideology. emotional ties between voters and parties; a phase of political misalignment (2), which may be the one we are currently in in Europe since the economic crisis, which is a weakening of partisan loyalties resulting in increased electoral volatility, i.e. Another possible strategy is to rely on the judgment of others such as opinion leaders. In Personality traits and party identification over time published in 2014 by Bakker, Hopmann and Persson, the authors attempt to explain partisan identification. On the other hand, the intensity directional model better explains the electoral choices of candidates who are not currently in power. Grofman's idea is to say that the voter discounts what the candidates say (discounting) based on the difference between current policy and what the party says it will do or promise. 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