rational choice model Flashcards
(10 cards)
what are primacy factors and what do they lead to?
-long term factors
-they lead to stability (limited change in the results from election to election)
what are recency factors and what do they lead to?
-short term factors
-lead to volatility (significant changes to the votes cast in each election)
what is swing?
the movement of voters from one party to another, shown as a percentage
definition of rational choice model:
argues that voters evaluate the parties and make a conscious choice based on a range of factors e.g. their policies
what are positional issues?
-divisive issues that reasonable people can take different positions on
-e.g. should taxes be increased
what’s the spatial model?
-stresses the importance of positional voters and issues. the party whose policies most closely match the positions of the majority of voters are more likely to win the election
what are salient issues?
-issues that are considered to be the most important in an election
-economy, healthcare, taxation, education, crime, immigration
what are valence issues?
-issues where there’s broad agreement on the goals government should pursue, e.g. crime rates
what’s the valence model?
parties will win if they appear to be the most capable of delivering certain results on valence issues
what’s electoral volatility?
the idea that swing and churn suggests that many floating voters are being influenced by short tern factors from election to election