12) Voting

Question 1

What are the voting models?

Answer 1

The socio-structural model.
The socio-psychological model.
The issue voting model: 
- The spatial model.
- The valence model.

Question 2

What defines the socio-structural voting model?

Answer 2

Class, religion, values.
Affect political attitudes.
Long-standing ties between groups and parties.
Society are divided in groups.

Question 3

What defines class voting?

Answer 3

Occupational (class) position determines vote.
Underlying economic conflict.
Very stable voting behavior.

Question 4

What are the causes of the decline of class voting?

Answer 4

Weaker class identity:

• Growing individualism.
• Changing class structure.
• Convergence of living conditions.
• Social mobility.

Weaker class-party links:
- Broader party strategies.

Question 5

How does religion (according to the socio-structural model) affect voting behavior?

Answer 5

Goes back to state-church cleavage.
Creates groups with strong identity.
Organizational reinforcement through churches.
Direct effect on political attitudes.

Question 6

How does values (according to the socio-structural model) affect voting behavior?

Answer 6

If people share, a common set of values it also creates a group.
Post-material values of increasing importance.
No fixed ties between group and one party.
Diffuse group.
No organizational core.
Does not provide stability of class or religions.

Question 7

What defines the socio-psychological model?

Answer 7

Long-term affective bond with a specific party.
Ultimate heuristic for political decisions.
Developed in childhood.

Question 8

What does the funnel of causality says on voting behavior?

Answer 8

Social divisions and value orientations determine party attachment.

Question 9

What is ‘the learning of partisanship’?

Answer 9

Parents play a central role in the socialization of children’s values and party identification.

Question 10

What does the cognitive mobilization theory says on voting behavior?

Answer 10

Accepts the importance of partisanship as a heuristic to help people orient themselves to politics. 
Cognitive mobilization (the available of political information through the media reduces the costs of making informed decisions).

Question 11

What are apertisan voters (according to the cognitive mobilization theory)?

Answer 11

High cognitive mobilization, but independent of partisanship.

Question 12

What are cognitive partisan voters (according to the cognitive mobilization theory)?

Answer 12

High cognitive mobilization and strong party identification.

Question 13

What are apolitical independent voters (according to the cognitive mobilization theory)?

Answer 13

Low cognitive mobilization, but independent of partisanship.

Question 14

What are ritual partisan voters (according to the cognitive mobilization theory)?

Answer 14

Low cognitive mobilization and strong party identification.

Question 15

What are some of the consequences of partisan de-alignment?

Answer 15

Issue voting.
Volatility.
Less participation. 

Question 16

What are some of the causes of partisan de-alignment?

Answer 16

Social modernization.
Citizens less reliant on party heuristics.
Growing availability of ‘neutral’ information.
Cognitive modernization.

Question 17

What defines the issue voting model?

Answer 17

Voting based on issue opinions.

Generally seen as increasing in importance.

Question 18

What is retrospective voting?

Answer 18

Voters evaluate how the government’s work has been (look back).

Question 19

What is prospective voting?

Answer 19

Voters choose their candidate after who they think can handle a problem best (look forward).

Question 20

What defines position issues (spatial model) in the issue voting model?

Answer 20

Voters compare with parties’ position.
Demanding decisions making.
Many voters able to form opinions on some issues.
Left-right placement.

Question 21

What defines performance issues (valence model) in the issue voting model?

Answer 21

How successful is the government (expected to be)?
Economy strong predictor of incumbency vote.
Retrospective-prospective performance.

Question 22

What defines attributes (attribute voting model) in the issue voting model?

Answer 22

Decision based on candidate images.

Growing importance in most elections.

Question 23

Which type of issue voting implies voting for a party based on a prospective evaluation of position issues?

Answer 23

Policy mandate.

Question 24

Which type of issue voting implies voting for a party based on a retrospective evaluation of position issues?

Answer 24

Policy appraisal.

Question 25

Which type of issue voting implies voting for a party based on a prospective evaluation of performance issues?

Answer 25

Anticipatory judgment.

Question 26

Which type of issue voting implies voting for a party based on a retrospective evaluation of performance issues?

Answer 26

Performance evalutation.