Electoral StudiesPub Date : 2025-04-28DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102937
Lawrence McKay , Christopher Claassen , Petar Bankov , Christopher Carman
{"title":"Countryside champions or urban allies? What rural and urban citizens want from elected representatives","authors":"Lawrence McKay , Christopher Claassen , Petar Bankov , Christopher Carman","doi":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102937","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102937","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rural-urban divide plays an increasingly clear role in many democracies. Theories suggest institutions and politicians are judged partially based on how people perceive them to represent their kinds of communities. However, the criteria they use for rural/urban representation, and the weight they give it in political choice, remain obscure. What do rural and urban citizens want from their elected representatives? Do rural voters prefer rural ‘champions’ as their representatives? Are urbanites equally drawn to ‘pro-urban’ politicians? We use a pre-registered candidate choice conjoint experiment in Britain with a large rural oversample (n = 3270), varying politicians' residential history, engagement with rural/urban interest groups, affective stance towards rural/urban areas, and advocacy on behalf of rural/urban areas beyond the constituency. Consistent with theory, ruralites generally place greater emphasis on place-based representation. They reward candidates with histories of rural residence (while urbanites do not value urban residence), and for advocating for similar areas outside the locality. They place greater value on politicians working with interest groups representing their area type. Ruralites are also more rewarding of positive in-group affect and unlike urbanites, do not <em>punish</em> candidates for negative, resentful affect about outgroup areas. These effects are pronounced among resentful ruralites, as they tend to favour candidates with an explicitly rural focus of representation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48188,"journal":{"name":"Electoral Studies","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102937"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143883203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electoral StudiesPub Date : 2025-04-24DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102936
Jakob de Haan , Franziska Ohnsorge , Shu Yu
{"title":"Election-induced fiscal policy cycles in democratic and non-democratic emerging market and developing economies","authors":"Jakob de Haan , Franziska Ohnsorge , Shu Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102936","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102936","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examine a broad set of fiscal outcomes around elections for 104 emerging market and developing economies covering the years 1993–2022, probe for differences between democracies and non-democracies, and estimate the degree to which fiscal deteriorations are reversed after elections. We show three patterns. First, primary deficits rise statistically significantly during elections by 0.6 percentage points of GDP. Primary spending, especially the government wage bill, also rises while indirect tax revenues fall. Second, these deteriorations occur in democracies and non-democracies alike. Third, the deterioration in primary deficits is not reversed after elections, and the deterioration in primary spending is partially reversed after the election, mainly through cuts in capital spending. This pattern, which holds for democracies and non-democracies, implies that deficits in emerging market and developing economies ratchet up over the course of several election cycles. Finally, we find that strong checks and balances, fiscal rules, and the presence of an IMF program partly mitigate the impact of elections on fiscal positions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48188,"journal":{"name":"Electoral Studies","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102936"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143867822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electoral StudiesPub Date : 2025-04-15DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102934
Hafsteinn Einarsson, Agnar Freyr Helgason
{"title":"Evaluating nonresponse and non-sampling error trends in election studies","authors":"Hafsteinn Einarsson, Agnar Freyr Helgason","doi":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102934","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102934","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Political scientists rely on election studies as high-quality sources of data on voting behavior and attitudes. However, despite a cross-national trend of declining response rates over time and a lively debate regarding the accuracy of pre-election polls, data quality in election studies is an underdiscussed topic. In this paper, we address this research gap by focusing on trends in survey participation and non-sampling errors over time using data from the Icelandic National Election Study over a period spanning nearly four decades (1983–2021). We find that response rates have halved in the period under study (from around 70 % to 36 %), caused by increasing noncontact rates. Focusing on sample composition, we find that response rates have declined more among young adults and those without university degrees than other sample subgroups. To assess non-sampling error trends, we propose a simple metric based on the mean average error (MAE), which accounts for the number of parties and the sample size. Surprisingly, we find that despite decreasing response rates, the MAE has not increased, and for most elections, we cannot rule out sampling error alone as the explanation for the MAE. Finally, we show that adjustment weights have small and inconsistent effects on the MAE, suggesting that the auxiliary information available in the Icelandic context lacks the strong correlations needed to reduce error in the estimation of vote choice. We conclude with a discussion of these findings, their implications, and some guidance for practitioners seeking to evaluate data quality that can inform changes to the design of election studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48188,"journal":{"name":"Electoral Studies","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102934"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143829507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electoral StudiesPub Date : 2025-04-15DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102933
John Kenny , Michael S. Lewis-Beck
{"title":"Political economy models and UK election forecasting: End game?","authors":"John Kenny , Michael S. Lewis-Beck","doi":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102933","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102933","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Political economy models have been applied to election forecasting for some time. However, in the United Kingdom, as well as elsewhere, other methodologies have come to the fore to take their place alongside the forecasting methodology of vote intention polling. Returning to a classic Political Economy model first successfully tested on the 2001 General Election, we ask whether it still has relevance today. After various time series analyses of UK general elections (1955 to the present), we find that it does. The model manages to forecast the vote share of the incumbent party rather accurately, via three predictor variables: economic performance, executive/prime ministerial approval, and the number of terms in office. For the 2024 contest, it forecasted, before-the-fact, a Conservative defeat of historic proportions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48188,"journal":{"name":"Electoral Studies","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102933"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143829508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electoral StudiesPub Date : 2025-04-09DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102929
Jakub Grossmann , Štěpán Jurajda
{"title":"Voting under debtor distress","authors":"Jakub Grossmann , Štěpán Jurajda","doi":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102929","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102929","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There is growing evidence on the role of economic conditions, including household debt levels, in the recent successes of populist and extremist parties. However, little is known about the role of <em>over</em>-indebtedness, even though debtor distress has grown in Europe following the financial crisis. We study the unique case of the Czech Republic, where by 2017 nearly one in ten citizens had been served at least one debtor distress warrant even though the country consistently features low unemployment. Our municipality-level difference-in-differences analysis asks about the voting consequences of a rise in debtor distress following a 2001 deregulation of consumer-debt collection. We find that debtor distress depresses turnout, and has a positive effect on support for (new) extreme-right and populist parties, which is offset by a negative effect on a (traditional) extreme-left party. The effects of debtor distress we uncover are robust to whether and how we control for economic hardship; the effects of debtor distress and of unemployment are of similar magnitude, but operate in opposing directions across the political spectrum.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48188,"journal":{"name":"Electoral Studies","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102929"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143799871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electoral StudiesPub Date : 2025-04-07DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102930
Elizabeth Simon , Daniel Devine , Jamie Furlong
{"title":"What drives the link between university study and attitudinal change?","authors":"Elizabeth Simon , Daniel Devine , Jamie Furlong","doi":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102930","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102930","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>What drives the link between university study and attitudinal change? While research shows that obtaining a degree tends to make students more socially liberal, little is known about what drives this effect. We address this ‘how’ question by testing the socialisation-based mechanisms through which university study may shift attitudes; combining individual-level panel data from the British Election Study Internet Panel with university- and constituency-level data about where respondents studied to estimate sub-group effects. Our results suggest that students tend to shift their attitudes subtly in a leftward and liberal direction whilst at university, but that this average effect is larger for: those who graduate younger, who study STEM and other non-HSS subjects (social attitudes only), who move away from home to study, who attend single campus institutions, and who live in ‘university towns’ and ‘cosmopolitan London’ while studying (all economic attitudes only). Overall, we find evidence to suggest that the socialisation experiences individuals are exposed to while studying have important shaping effects on their attitudes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48188,"journal":{"name":"Electoral Studies","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102930"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143785444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electoral StudiesPub Date : 2025-04-06DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102931
Aaron Dusso, Tijen Demirel-Pegg
{"title":"Voter support for illiberal candidates: Demonstrating the differential influence of authoritarianism's three facets on vote choice","authors":"Aaron Dusso, Tijen Demirel-Pegg","doi":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102931","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102931","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The success of illiberal candidates across the globe has spurred scholars to better understand why millions of voters support candidates and parties that engage in anti-democratic practices that erode the very foundation of their countries’ democratic systems. While much research has turned to the psychological disposition known as authoritarianism for answers, few have gone beyond the general concept’s single dimension. This leaves us with an incomplete answer. Authoritarianism consists of three facets (submission, conventionalism, and aggression) and it cannot be assumed that each of these facets has the same influence on voters across all candidates and political contexts. Indeed, through the implementation of surveys in six countries following their recent national elections, we demonstrate how our understanding of authoritarian voter support for illiberal candidates is dependent on scholars’ choice of a single or multidimensional measure. The single dimensional measure shows a placid story consistent with previous research, i.e., scoring high in the authoritarianism leads to support for right-wing candidates. The three-dimensional story is much different, with support varying substantially from one candidate and facet to the next.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48188,"journal":{"name":"Electoral Studies","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102931"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143785294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electoral StudiesPub Date : 2025-04-02DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102932
Stephanie Luke , Charles Pattie , Luke Temple , Katharine Dommett
{"title":"How does rurality affect campaigning?","authors":"Stephanie Luke , Charles Pattie , Luke Temple , Katharine Dommett","doi":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102932","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102932","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the UK, some constituencies are physically small and take in parts of densely populated cities, while others span huge geographic areas and may contain islands or hard to reach communities. These size variations have been shown to have important implications for the nature of electoral representation, but their impact on election campaigning is less discussed. In this paper we examine this relationship, using a mixed method approach to consider whether and how rurality affects campaign activity. First, conducting interviews with Scottish National Party campaigners and elected representatives from rural and urban constituencies, we identify a number of perceived challenges associated with rural campaigning. We then evaluate some of these perceptions at recent British general elections using data from the BES panel survey and from constituency election results. The perception that campaigns in rural constituencies take more time and effort, cost more to undertake, have different contact styles and are less effective in rural than in urban areas seems to be partly true for campaign contacts, but less so for campaign spending (a wider measure of campaign effort) or for campaign effectiveness. Campaigners’ perceptions of a rural disadvantage does not appear to be fully borne out in reality.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48188,"journal":{"name":"Electoral Studies","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102932"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143748298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electoral StudiesPub Date : 2025-03-28DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102927
Matthew Yi-Hsiu Lee
{"title":"Electoral role models: The impact of gender quotas on voters in Taiwan","authors":"Matthew Yi-Hsiu Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102927","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102927","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While previous research suggests that dynasty politics and gender quotas may undermine the symbolic representation of women, Taiwan combines both unfavorable conditions yet boasts one of the highest female political participation. We argue this is explained by gender quotas enhancing the competitiveness of female candidates, thereby fostering a role model effect during campaigns. Using a quasi-experimental design based on the implementation of gender quotas in Taiwan's local elections, we analyze data from five waves of the Asian Barometer Survey (2005–2022). Our findings show that quotas significantly increase political interest among female voters but do not impact political efficacy and gender attitudes. This study challenges prevailing perspectives by examining Taiwan's case and offers insights into how gender role models can emerge in electoral contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48188,"journal":{"name":"Electoral Studies","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102927"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143714980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Electoral StudiesPub Date : 2025-03-27DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102928
Claudia Landwehr , Christopher Ojeda , Paul Weingärtner
{"title":"A quiet and invisible challenge: Depressive symptoms and the evaluation of democratic institutions","authors":"Claudia Landwehr , Christopher Ojeda , Paul Weingärtner","doi":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102928","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102928","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Depressive symptoms in citizens are a strong predictor of political non-participation and have considerable negative effects on motivation and political interest. Apparently, the way in which depressed citizens relate to democratic institutions significantly differs from that of other citizens. In this letter, we therefore explore the relationship between depressive symptoms and the assessment of democracy. We test whether depressive symptoms, and the negativity bias they engender, lead to more negative evaluations of democratic institutions, practices and performance. Drawing on data from the European Social Survey, we find depression has negative effects on the assessment of democracy across countries and evaluative dimensions, and that on average, people with depressive symptoms have more negative views about democracy in their own country. An analysis of longitudinal data from Germany provides further evidence by demonstrating that intrapersonal changes in depression over time lead to changes in democratic evaluations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48188,"journal":{"name":"Electoral Studies","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102928"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143714981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}