1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of Elections, Voting Behavior and Public Opinion
The study of elections, voting behavior and public opinion are arguably among the most prominent and intensively researched sub-fields within Political Science. It is an evolving sub-field, both in terms of theoretical focus and in particular, technical developments and has made a considerable impact on popular understanding of the core components of liberal democracies in terms of electoral systems and outcomes, changes in public opinion and the aggregation of interests.
This handbook details the key developments and state of the art research across elections, voting behavior and the public opinion by providing both an advanced overview of each core area and engaging in debate about the relative merits of differing approaches in a comprehensive and accessible way. Bringing geographical scope and depth, with comparative chapters that draw on material from across the globe, it will be a key reference point both for advanced level students and researchers developing knowledge and producing new material in these sub-fields and beyond.
The Routledge Handbook of Elections, Voting Behavior and Public Opinion is an authoritative and key reference text for students, academics and researchers engaged in the study of electoral research, public opinion and voting behavior.
Editors' Introduction [Justin Fisher, Edward Fieldhouse, Mark Franklin, Rachel Gibson, Marta Cantijoch and Christopher Wlezien]
Part I: Theoretical Approaches to Study of Voter Behavior
1. Democratic Theory and Electoral Behavior [Ian McAllister]
2. The Sociological and Social-Psychological Approaches [Vincent Hutchings and Hakeem Jefferson]
3. Rational Choice Theory and Voting [Keith Dowding]
4. Institutions and Voting Behavior [B. Guy Peters]
Part II: Turnout: Why People Vote (or don’t)
5. The Big Picture: Turnout at the Macro Level [Jack Vowles]
6. Demographic and the Social Bases of Voter Turnout [Eric Plutzer]
7. Turnout and the Calculus of Voting: Recent Advances and Prospects for Integration with Theories of Campaigns and Elections [John Aldrich and Libby M. Jenke]
8. Voting and the Expanding Repertoire of Participation [Jan van Deth]
9. The Acquisition of Voting Habits [Elias Dinas]
Part III: Determinants of Vote Choice
10. Long-term factors: Class and Religious Cleavages [Geoff Evans and Ksenia Northmore-Ball]
11. Ideology and Electoral Choice [Martin Elff]
12. Party Identification [Shaun Bowler]
13. Trends in Partisanship [Oliver Heath]
14. Politics, Media and the Electoral Role of Party Leaders [Anthony Mughan and Loes Aaldering]
15. Preferences, Constraints, and Choices: Tactical Voting in Mass Elections [R. Michael Alvarez, D. Roderick Kiewiet and Lucas Núñez]
16. Economic Voting [Marianne Stewart and Harold Clarke]
Part IV: The Role of Context and Campaigns
17. Electoral Systems [Iain McLean]
18. Electoral Integrity [Pippa Norris]
19. Voting Behavior in Multi-Level Electoral Systems [Hermann Schmitt and Eftichia Teperoglou]
20. Local Context, Social Networks and Neighbourhood Effects on Voter Choice [Ron Johnston and Charles Pattie]
21. Voting Behavior in Referendums [Michael Marsh]
22. Networks, Contexts, and the Process of Political Influence [Robert Huckfeldt, Matthew T. Pietryka and John B. Ryan]
23. Persuasion and Mobilization Effects by Parties and Candidates [Justin Fisher]
24. Campaign Strategies, Media and Voters: The Fourth Era of Political Communication [Holli Semetko and Hubert Tworzecki]
25. The Role of Mass Media in Shaping Public Opinion and Voter Behaviour [Susan Banducci]
26. Digital Campaigning [Stephen Ward, Rachel Gibson and Marta Cantijoch]
Part V: The Nature of Public Opinion
27. Attitudes, Values and Belief Systems [Oddbjørn Knutsen]
28. The Stability of Political Attitudes [Robert Erikson]
29. Political knowledge: Measurement, Misinformation and Turnout [Jennifer Hudson]
30. Is There a Rational Public? [Jørgen Bølstad]
31. The Geometry of Party Competition. Parties and Voters in the Issue Space [Lorenzo de Sio]
31. The Thermostatic Model: The Public, Policy and Politics [Christopher Wlezien]
32. Regime Support [Pedro Magalhaes]
33. Generational Replacement: Engine of Electoral Change [Wouter van der Brug and Mark Franklin]
Part VI: Methodological Challenges and New Developments
34. The Dependent Variable in Election Studies: Studying Respondents or Responses as Units of Analysis [Cees van Der Eijk]
35. The Quest for Representative Survey Samples [Laura Stoker and Andrew McCall]
36. Horses For Courses: Using Internet Surveys for Researching Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour [Edward Fieldhouse and Chris Prosser]
37. The Use of Aggregate Data in the Study of Voting Behavior: Ecological Inference, Ecological Fallacy and Other Applications [Luana Russo]
38. Election Forecasting [Stephen Fisher]
39. Field Experiments in Political Behavior [Donald Green and Erin A. York]
40. Making Inferences About Elections and Public Opinion Using Incidentally Collected Data [Jon Mellon]
Biography
Justin Fisher is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Magna Carta Institute at Brunel University London, UK. He was co-editor of the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties from 2004-2011.
Edward Fieldhouse is Professor of Social and Political Science at the University of Manchester, UK, and Director of the 2015 British Election Study. He was co-editor of the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties from 2012-2016.
Mark Franklin is a Director of the European Union Democracy Observatory at the European University Institute's Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. He was co-editor of the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties from 2012-2016.
Rachel Gibson is Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester, UK, and Director of the Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research. She was co-editor of the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties from 2012-2016.
Marta Cantijoch is a Q-Step Lecturer in Politics at the University of Manchester, UK. She was the editorial assistant of the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties from 2013-2016.
Christopher Wlezien is Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. He was co-editor of the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties from 2004-2011.
‘The Handbook very nicely covers all the topics related to the study of elections, voting and public opinion: the most influential theories and methods, both turnout and vote choice, both the individual-level and the contextual determinants, the roles of both voters and parties. The review essays are written by top scholars in the field, with a crucial cross-national perspective. An essential reading for all those who study and/or teach political behavior.’ - André Blais, Université de Montréal, Canada.
‘This Handbook takes stock of 50 years of research into elections, voting behavior and public opinion. It is well structured and a stellar cast of authors presents the state of the art in a comprehensive fashion. This monumental volume is a true landmark. It is a must-read for all those interested in elections and democratic politics.’ - Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Social Science Research Center Berlin, Germany.
