Talking Locally and Voting Globally

Abstract

The heterogeneity of discussion networks has been shown to have an effect on citizens' ideas and behavior. In this article, the author undertakes to show that the relative heterogeneity of political discussion networks affects voter coordination on two parties in a single-member plurality system. Specifically, if voters do not have access to polling information about the relative standing of candidates, voters whose discussion networks are ideologically heterogeneous are more likely to coordinate on two parties than voters whose discussion networks are ideologically homogeneous. The author examines this hypothesis using an agent-based model.