Abstract
Electoral psychology is defined as any model based on human psychology that is used to explain any electoral experience or outcome at the individual or aggregate level. Electoral psychology can also be an interface with other crucial aspects of the vote. For example, the interface between electoral psychology and electoral organization constitutes electoral ergonomics. The very nature of the models tested in electoral psychology has also led scholars in the field to complement mainstream social science methodologies with their own specific methodological approaches in order to capture the subconscious component of the vote and the subtle nature of the psychological processes determining the electoral experience and the way in which it permeates citizens’ thoughts and lives. After defining electoral psychology, this introductory article scopes its analytical roots and contemporary relevance, focuses on the importance of switching from “institution-centric” to “people-centric” conceptions of electoral behavior, and notably how it redefines key concepts such as electoral identity and consistency, and approaches questions of personality, morality, memory, identity, and emotions in electoral psychological models. Then, it discusses some of the unique methodological challenges that the field faces, notably when it comes to analyzing largely subconscious phenomena, and addresses them, before explaining how the various contributions to this Special Issue give a flavor of the scope and approaches of electoral psychology contributions to electoral studies.
Highlights
Electoral psychology is defined as any model based on human psychology that is used to explain any electoral experience or outcome at the individual or aggregate level
Researchers increasingly realize that the models we use in much of the existing electoral research are ill-equipped to explain some of these paradoxes and that there is something about the individual and collective psychology of contemporary democratic voters across a whole variety of political systems that needs to be reintegrated into our approaches if we are to make sense of current electoral realities
Electoral psychology can be an interface with other crucial aspects of the vote
Summary
The last decade has been quite unique when it comes to elections and electoral results across world democracies. The relevance of these counter-intuitive electoral phenomena is not purely historical, but analytical as well As they occur, researchers increasingly realize that the models we use in much of the existing electoral research are ill-equipped to explain some of these paradoxes and that there is something about the individual and collective psychology of contemporary democratic voters across a whole variety of political systems that needs to be reintegrated into our approaches if we are to make sense of current electoral realities. Their model suggests that for reasons including socialization, social class, and environment, voters identify with a political party This partisan identification is the “baseline” of the vote, and as such combines with voters’ evaluations of short-term factors (candidates’ personalities, incumbent’s record, issues, etc.) to produce an electoral decision. While this might—at a stretch—have made sense in an era of aligned politics, identity and consistency could register at a much deeper level (a certain ”conception” of politics, values, relationship between citizens and the state or as we shall see, role of a voter) which could be entirely dissociated from partisanship, notably in de-aligned contexts [8,9]
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