Economic-minded partisans: Understanding how economic perceptions and political partisanship condition voting behavior
Item
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Title
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Economic-minded partisans: Understanding how economic perceptions and political partisanship condition voting behavior
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:1b08687bb1df:10149
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identifier
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10467
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Creator
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Brogan, Michael J.,
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Contributor
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Charles Tien
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Date
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2009
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Political science | Economics | Economic Voting | Elections | Incumbent | Interaction | Partisanship | Political Behavior
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Abstract
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In this dissertation, I will introduce a new way to understand economic voting. I argue there is an interactive relationship between how the economy and the political environment are recognized among voters when making a vote choice. The framework for determining vote choice can be explained in the following manner: (1) During economic downturns, economic perceptions are the impetus for voters' decision making; because the economy is performing poorly, voters punish the incumbent government. (2) During economic prosperity, voters focus less on the economy and more on politics; incumbent presidents are rewarded for economic prosperity to a lesser extent because voters focus primarily on political matters. (3) During periods of mixed economic performance, voters focus on the economy; however, this focus is tinged by partisan filters. My findings indicate a significant interactive relationship existing between voters' partisanship and voters' economic perceptions in voting behavior which demonstrates that voters do not uniformly engage in economic voting. The model estimates that less partisan voters are more likely to act as economic voters by rewarding (punishing) incumbents for a good (bad) economy while stronger partisans typically use their economic perceptions as a means to reinforce existing partisan preferences when making their voting decisions.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Political Science
