Voting behavior
Voting behavior refers to how people decide how to vote. This decision is shaped by a complex interplay between an individual voter's attitudes as well as social factors. Voter attitudes include characteristics such as ideological predisposition, party identity, degree of satisfaction with the existing government, public policy leanings, and feelings about a candidate's personality traits. Social factors include race, religion and degree of religiosity, social and economic class, educational level, regional characteristics, gender and age.
The degree to which a person identifies with a political party influences voting behavior, as does social identity.
Voter decision-making is not a purely rational endeavor but rather is profoundly influenced by personal and social biases and deeply held beliefs as well as characteristics such as personality, memory, emotions, and other psychological factors. Voting advice applications and avoidance of wasted votes through strategic voting can impact voting behavior.
Types
Citizens are not blank slates- they have pre existing political habits that affect how likely they are to vote, and pre existing political identities that affect whether they will vote for Democratic or Republican candidates. Voter behavior is often influenced by voter loyalty. There is a correlation between voter satisfaction with what a political party has achieved and dealt with a situation and voters' intention of voting for the same party again. Thus, if there is high voter satisfaction with how the political party performed, then the likelihood of a reoccurring vote in the next election is high. Additionally, the information supplied to the voter is significant in understanding voting behavior. The information provided to the voter, not only influences who to vote for, but if they are intending to at all.Influence of cleavages
Three cleavage-based voting factors, or individual differences impacting voting behavior, focused on in existing research are religion, class, and gender. In recent years, voting cleavage has shifted from concerns of Protestant vs Catholic religions to have a larger focus on religious vs non-religious leanings. Research shows that citizens vote for the candidate that they believe is most compatible with their moral convictions and religious values. Traditional conceptions of class voting dictate a working-class preference towards left-leaning parties and middle-class preference for right-leaning parties. The influences of class voting is reliant on political environment and location; many nations observe the opposite preferences.Many cleavage-based voting behaviors are interconnected and frequently build on each other. These factors also tend to hold different levels of weight in different countries, based on their political environment, meaning that there is no universal explanation for voting cleavage in all democratic countries. Each factor has a different level of importance and influence on one's vote dependent on the country one is voting in.
Election dependency
Research following the Cypriot Referendum of 2004 identified four distinct voting behaviors depending on the election type. Citizens use different decision criteria if they are called to exercise their right to vote in presidential, legislative, local elections or in a referendum.In national elections, voters usually vote based on their political ideologies. In local and regional elections, voters tend to vote for those who seem more capable to contribute to their area. Voting behavior for referendums differs slightly, as people vote for or against a clearly defined policy.
Partisanship
voting is also an important motive behind an individual's vote and can influence voting behavior. A 2000 research study on partisanship voting in the United States found evidence that partisan voting has a large effect on voting behavior. However, partisan voting has a larger effect on national elections, such as a presidential election, than it does on congressional elections. Furthermore, there is also a distinction of partisan voting behavior relative to a voter's age and education. Studies show that individuals with more educational attainment are more likely to vote. Those over fifty years old and those without a high school diploma are more likely to vote based on partisan loyalty. Research also suggests that those with higher levels of education may prefer liberal policies. Additionally, the voting behavior tendencies of different groups may shift over time; for example, in the United States, voters with college degrees have shifted significantly toward Democratic Party candidates over the past three decades. This research is based on the United States and has not been confirmed to accurately predict voting patterns in other democracies.Research has shown that income is a significant factor that influences voting decision- higher income individuals are more likely to vote for a conservative party Conversely, lower income individuals may support left leaning parties as they may perceive these policies to be aligned with reducing social disparity.
A 1960 study of Postwar Japan found that citizens living in urban areas were more likely to be supportive of socialist or progressive parties, while citizens living in rural areas were favorable of conservative parties.
Voters have also been shown to be affected by coalition and alliance politics, and whether such coalitions form before or after an election. In these cases, voters can be swayed by feelings on coalition partners when considering their feelings toward their preferred political party.
Gender differences
is an important factor to consider when making inferences regarding voting behavior. Gender often interacts with factors such as region, race, occupational differences, age, ethnicity, educational level, and other characteristics to produce a distinct multiplicative effect on voting behavior. Much of the research on gender differences in voting behavior has centered on the gender gap and party realignment of women in the United States towards the Democratic Party in the 1980s. More recent research focusing on the partisan gender gap in the United States suggests that this gender gap is actually a race gap, as White women in the U.S. have consistently been supporters of the Republican Party and were more likely to vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential Election. Research shows that women's political attitudes may align with more progressive and left leaning policies- women may prioritize issues such as healthcare, education, and gender equality. Conversely, men may value right leaning parties as they may prioritize issues such as national security, economic growth, and traditional values that the conservative party upholds. More recent and forthcoming research expands this focus to a global perspective, using cross-national perceptions of gender differences in voting behavior to make predictions that factor in the role of gender in voting decisions.Historical and global perspective
In the modern era, New Zealand was the first nation to grant women the legal right to vote, in 1893. The vast majority of nations officially granted women the right to vote over the past century, though many women were prevented from voting for decades, such as Black women in many regions of the United States. prior to the 1960s. As of 2023, virtually all nations other than Vatican City officially grant women the legal right to vote, though significant barriers exist to women's suffrage in many places that can make casting a ballot impossible or near impossible. Examples include Afghanistan, where women are not allowed to travel more than 72 kilometers without a male chaperone, and parts of Kenya, where many women could not vote in recent elections due to election-related sexual violence.Research on gender differences in voting has historically focused on economically advanced, western-style democracies, though there is a growing body of research on women's voting preferences in lower income nations. Research has demonstrated that gender differences in voting exist worldwide. The cause of this gender gap often varies by country and region. Frequently utilized explanations for gender gaps in voting are socioeconomic factors, situational constraints for women, and differences in political priorities. Studies indicate that the way these factors interact with voting behavior depends on location, cultural norms, literacy level, lived experience, and other facets of identity including race, ethnicity, and age. It is thus important to employ an intersectional lens - meaning, one in which race, ethnicity, economic status, sexual identity, educational status, and other factors are considered - and explore gender within the context of these other factors to understand voting behavior more fully.
Gendered influence on sources of individual voting behavior
Influences on candidate choice have been linked to three main influences on voting behavior. These influences include, but are not limited to, issue and public policy beliefs, perceptions of government performance, and personal evaluation of candidate characteristics. These factors are influenced by a range of compounding factors including gender.Issue and public policy beliefs
Voters must hold opinions on the subject and recognize differences between the candidates on it in order for it to influence their choice of candidate. Oftentimes, voters will hold viewpoints that are too unstable to serve as a benchmark for comparing the candidates, while others won't detect any significant distinctions between them on the subject. Other voters will have firm opinions and distinct perceptions of candidate differences, specifically when the candidates directly indicate their distinctions. Relating back to voting behavior, the crucial point is not whether voters have a specific candidate or policy choice, but rather how much they differentiate between candidates on policy matters and decide who to vote for on that basis.Partisan ideology influences these views on policy. In the United States, ideology affects how voters cast their ballots in presidential elections based on their beliefs on certain policy concerns. Another method of influence is party identification, which working with ideology may also shape the ways in which voters perceive policy.