Do Poor and Rich Vote Differently?

• In Event: New Directions in Comparative Political Inequality Research

Abstract

There is extant literature documenting the unequal representation of the interests of economically defined groups. One explanation for this phenomenon resides in the electoral behavior of different groups of voters: If the more affluent base their vote decision more strongly on policy considerations while the less affluent rely on more unconditional forms of electoral support, this pattern could influence the ability of political elites to represent the poor as well as their willingness to do so as the accountability mechanisms might be less at play. We make use of the integrated CSES to study how income affects the way in which voters rely on different voting heuristics like proximity voting, valence considerations and economic voting across a diverse set of countries. Our findings suggest that these different heuristics are used to similar extents by all income groups. The more affluent base their vote decision slightly more strongly on their policy preferences, less affluent put slightly more weight on partisanship and in general their electoral decision making is not as well explained as the choices of the rich. However, substantively these differences are very small and could hardly explain a systematic underrepresentation of the policy preferences of the poor.

Authors

• Jan Rosset

• Nathalie Giger, University of Geneva

• Anna Sophie Kurella, Universität Mannheim