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Issues, party and character: the moderating role of ideological thinking on candidate evaluation
[journal article]
Abstract "We examine 'heuristic' and 'systematic' candidate-appraisal strategies within a presidential election context. Controlling for political knowledge, we determine whether individual differences in the capacity for ideological thought condition voters' reliance on the major determinants of candidate c... view more
"We examine 'heuristic' and 'systematic' candidate-appraisal strategies within a presidential election context. Controlling for political knowledge, we determine whether individual differences in the capacity for ideological thought condition voters' reliance on the major determinants of candidate choice, increasing reliance on policy considerations and decreasing reliance on the heuristic cue of party identification and on perceptions of candidate character when ideological capacity is high, and exerting the opposite effect – decreasing the role of issues and increasing the role of party identification and candidate qualities – when such capacity is low. Using American National Election Studies data from the 1984–2000 period, we find that ideological thinking consistently heightens voters' reliance on issues and decreases their reliance on candidate cues, but only among voters who report being concerned about the outcome of the election. In contrast, the effect of partisanship is stable across levels of ideological thinking and concern about the campaign. We discuss the cognitive processes by which ideological thinking regulates political choice, and assert its centrality in the political decision-making process." (author's abstract)... view less
Keywords
voting behavior; political ideology; decision making process; party; evaluation; identification; political attitude; presidential election; candidacy; confidence
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Document language
English
Publication Year
2007
Page/Pages
139–163 p.
Journal
British Journal of Political Science, 37 (2007) 1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123407000075
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications
Data providerThis metadata entry was indexed by the Special Subject Collection Social Sciences, USB Cologne