Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-hvd4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T12:42:38.380Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sharing is caring: the role of voter-candidate similarities in intra-party electoral competition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2018

Patrick F. A. van Erkel
Patrick F. A. van Erkel*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
*
*E-mail: patrick.vanerkel@uantwerpen.be
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Previous studies have found similarities with presidential candidates or party leaders to be an important factor in explaining voting behaviour. However, with the exception of gender, few studies have structurally studied voter-candidate similarities in intra-party electoral competition. This study investigates the Belgian case and argues that voter-candidate similarities play a role in the decision-making process of citizens when casting preferential votes. Moreover, it investigates whether underrepresented groups, and especially women, are more guided by these voter-candidate similarities than overrepresented groups. To achieve this aim voter and candidate characteristics are modelled simultaneously. This enables an investigation of the decision-making process of voters while taking into account structural inequalities at the supply side. The results demonstrate that citizens are indeed more likely to cast preferential votes for candidates similar to themselves and that these effects are stronger for underrepresented groups. Hence, preferential voting could ultimately pave the way for better descriptive representation.

Keywords

preferential votingrepresentationelectoral behaviourelections
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 75 - 89
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

André, A, Wauters, B and Pilet, J-B (2012) It’s not only about lists: explaining preference voting in Belgium. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties 22, 293–313.Google Scholar
André, A, Pilet, J-B, Depauw, S and Van Aelst, P (2013) De partij, de leider of een “gewone” kandidaat? Het gebruik van de voorkeurstem bij de gemeenteraadsverkiezingen van 2012. in R Dassonneville, M Hooghe, S Marien and J-B Pilet (eds), De lokale kiezer: Het kiesgedrag bij de Belgische gemeenteraadsverkiezingen van oktober 2012, Brussel: ASP, pp. 119–142.Google Scholar
André, A, Depauw, S, Shugart, MS and Chytilek, R (2017) Party nomination strategies in flexible-list systems: do preference votes matter? Party Politics 23, 589–600.Google Scholar
Banducci, SA and Karp, JA (2000) Gender, leadership and choice in multiparty systems. Political Research Quarterly 53, 815–848.Google Scholar
Campbell, R and Cowley, P (2014) What voters want: reactions to candidate characteristics in a survey experiment. Political Studies 62, 745–765.Google Scholar
Cutler, F (2002) The simplest shortcut of all: sociodemographic characteristics and electoral choice. The Journal of Politics 64, 466–490.Google Scholar
De Winter, L (1988) Belgium: democracy or oligarchy? in M. Gallagher and M. Marsh (eds) Candidate Selection in Comparative Perspective, London: Sage, pp. 20–46.Google Scholar
Dolan, K (1998) Voting for women in the “year of the woman”. American Journal of Political Science 42, 272–293.Google Scholar
Dolan, K (2008) Is there a “gender affinity effect” in American politics? Information, affect, and candidate sex in U.S. house elections. Political Research Quarterly 61, 79–89.Google Scholar
Erzeel, S and Caluwaerts, D (2015) Is it gender, ideology or resources? Individual-level determinants of preferential voting for male or female candidates. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties 25, 265–283.Google Scholar
Erzeel, S, de Leeuw, S, Marien, S and Rihoux, B (2018) Gender-based voting, in K. Deschouwer (ed) Mind the Gap: Political Participation and Representation in Belgium, London: Rowman & Littlefield International/ECPR Press, pp. 227–250.Google Scholar
Gallagher, M and Marsh, M (eds) (1988) Candidate Selection in Comparative Perspective: The Secret Garden of Politics, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Giger, N, Holli, AM, Lefkofridi, Z and Wass, H (2014) The gender gap in same-gender voting: the role of context. Electoral Studies 35, 303–314.Google Scholar
Gimpel, JG, Karnes, KA, McTague, J and Pearson-Merkowitz, S (2008) Distance-decay in the political geography of friends-and-neighbors voting. Political Geography 27, 231–252.Google Scholar
Górecki, MA and Marsh, M (2012) Not just “friends and neighbours”: canvassing, geographic proximity and voter choice. European Journal of Political Research 51, 563–582.Google Scholar
Górecki, MA and Marsh, M (2014) A decline of “friends and neighbours voting” in Ireland? Local candidate effects in the 2011 Irish “earthquake election. Political Geography 41, 11–20.Google Scholar
Holli, AM and Wass, H (2010) Gender-based voting in the parliamentary elections of 2007 in Finland. European Journal of Political Research 49, 598–630.Google Scholar
Joshi, DK (2013) The representation of younger age cohorts in Asian parliaments: do electoral systems make a difference? Representation 49, 1–16.Google Scholar
Katz, RS (1985) Intraparty preference voting, in B. Grofman and A. Lijphart (eds) Electoral Laws and their Political Consequences, New York: Agathon Press, pp. 85–103.Google Scholar
Key, VO (1949) Southern Politics in State and Nation, New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Lewis-Beck, MS and Rice, TW (1983) Localism in presidential elections: the home state advantage. American Journal of Political Science 27, 548–556.Google Scholar
Maddens, B, Wauters, B, Noppe, J and Fiers, S (2006) Effects of campaign spending in an open list PR system: the 2003 legislative elections in Flanders/Belgium. West European Politics 29, 161–168.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, J (1999) Should blacks represent blacks and women represent women? A contingent “yes”. The Journal of Politics 61, 628–657.Google Scholar
Marien, S, Wauters, B and Schouteden, A (2017) Voting for women in Belgium’s flexible list system. Politics & Gender 13, 305–335.Google Scholar
McDermott, ML (1997) Voting cues in low-information elections: candidate gender as a social information variable in contemporary United States elections. American Journal of Political Science 41, 270–283.Google Scholar
McDermott, ML (2009) Voting for myself: candidate and voter group associations over time. Electoral Studies 28, 606–614.Google Scholar
McElroy, G and Marsh, M (2010) Candidate gender and voter choice: analysis from a multimember preferential voting system. Political Research Quarterly 63, 822–833.Google Scholar
Norris, P and Franklin, M (1997) Social representation. European Journal of Political Research 32, 185–210.Google Scholar
Piliavin, JA (1987) Age, race, and sex similarity to candidates and voting preference. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 17, 351–368.Google Scholar
Pitkin, HF (1967) The Concept of Representation, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Plutzer, E and Zipp, JF (1996) Identity politics, partisanship, and voting for women candidates. Public Opinion Quarterly 60, 30–57.Google Scholar
Pomper, G (1975) Voter’s Choice: Varieties of American Electoral Behavior, New York: Dodd, Mead.Google Scholar
Put, G-J and Maddens, B (2015) The effect of municipality size and local office on the electoral success of Belgian/Flemish election candidates: a multilevel analysis. Government and Opposition 50, 607–628.Google Scholar
Sanbonmatsu, K (2002) Gender stereotypes and vote choice. American Journal of Political Science 46, 20–34.Google Scholar
Schwindt-Bayer, LA (2006) Still supermadres? Gender and the policy priorities of Latin American legislators. American Journal of Political Science 50, 570–585.Google Scholar
Sigelman, CK, Sigelman, L, Walkosz, BJ and Nitz, M (1995) Black candidates, white voters: understanding racial bias in political perceptions. American Journal of Political Science 39, 243–265.Google Scholar
Sigelman, L and Sigelman, CK (1982) Sexism, racism, and ageism in voting behavior: an experimental analysis. Social Psychology Quarterly 45, 263–269.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H and Turner, J (1979) An integrative theory of intergroup conflict, in Austin WG and Worchel S (eds) The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall, pp. 33–47.Google Scholar
Tavits, M (2010) Effect of local ties on electoral success and parliamentary behaviour the case of Estonia. Party Politics 16, 215–235.Google Scholar
Teney, C, Jacobs, D, Rea, A and Delwit, P (2010) Ethnic voting in Brussels: voting patterns among ethnic minorities in Brussels (Belgium) during the 2006 local elections. Acta Politica 45, 273–297.Google Scholar
Thijssen, P and Jacobs, K (2004) Determinanten van voorkeurstemproporties bij (sub-)lokale verkiezingen: de Antwerpse districtraadsverkiezingen van 8 oktober 2000. Res Publica 4, 460–485.Google Scholar
Van Erkel, PFA and Thijssen, P (2016) The first one wins: distilling the primacy effect. Electoral Studies 44, 245–254.Google Scholar
Van Holsteyn, JJM and Andeweg, RB (2010) Demoted leaders and exiled candidates: disentangling party and person in the voter’s mind. Electoral Studies 29, 628–635.Google Scholar
Vos, D (2013) The vertical glass ceiling: explaining female politicians’ underrepresentation in television news. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research 38, 389–410.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

van Erkel supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download van Erkel supplementary material(File)
File 29 KB