Voting and Socially Valued Goods: Do Citizens Reward Incumbents or Punish Them?

• In Event: From Pluralism to Polarization: Public Opinion and Policy Preferences

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the relationship between voting and socially valued goods (wealth, influence, prestige) in Poland. More specifically, we examine the impact of self-identified, subjectively perceived access to socially valued goods (and their dynamics) on voting. We hypothesise that increased access to socially valued goods generates incumbent vote, while decreased access to these goods generates anti-incumbent (opposition) vote. We test our hypotheses with the Polish National Election Study (PNES) data; we use 1997, 2001, and 2019 editions of this study. We find that the micro-logic of individual action, typical for economic voting, is 'transferable' to other social life domains: the scripts of economic voting 'work' for other social goods (other than wealth, i.e. influence and prestige).

Author

• Mikolaj Czesnik, SWPS University