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Candidate Appearance Cues in Low-Information Elections
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| | Unformatted Document Text:
Candidate Appearance Cues in Low-Information Elections*
Susan Banducci
Department of Political Science
MS 1015, Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX 79409-1015
Voice: (806) 742-3121
Fax: (806) 742-0850
Email:
## email not listed ##
www.banducci.com
Michael Thrasher
Department of Politics
University of Plymouth
Colin Rallings
Department of Politics
University of Plymouth
Jeffrey A. Karp
Department of Political Science
MS 1015, Texas Tech University
Revised 21 August, 2003
ABSTRACT:
Voters who bother to show up at the polls are sometimes faced with the complex task of choosing among unknown candidates in an election that has received very little media coverage. In the absence of cues such as party and incumbency, how do voters deal with the cognitive demands of decision making in low information elections? One way voters can decide is with the use of other available cues. Lau and Redlawsk (2001) have suggested that photographs be added to ballots in order to aid voter decision making. In this paper we examine a set of elections where candidate photographs were displayed on the ballot. We find that election results favored more attractive candidates but that these effects were conditioned by the electoral rules. Less sophisticated cues such as ballot position were more prominent in STV elections whereas cues based on candidate characteristics were more prominent in multi-member plurality [MMP] elections.
* Paper prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. August 28-August 31, 2003.
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| | Authors: Banducci, Susan., Thrasher, Michael., Rallings, Colin. and Karp, Jeffrey. |
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Candidate Appearance Cues in Low-Information Elections*
Susan Banducci
Department of Political Science
MS 1015, Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX 79409-1015
Voice: (806) 742-3121
Fax: (806) 742-0850
Email:
## email not listed ##
www.banducci.com
Michael Thrasher
Department of Politics
University of Plymouth
Colin Rallings
Department of Politics
University of Plymouth
Jeffrey A. Karp
Department of Political Science
MS 1015, Texas Tech University
Revised 21 August, 2003
ABSTRACT:
Voters who bother to show up at the polls are sometimes faced with the complex task of
choosing among unknown candidates in an election that has received very little media
coverage. In the absence of cues such as party and incumbency, how do voters deal with
the cognitive demands of decision making in low information elections? One way voters
can decide is with the use of other available cues. Lau and Redlawsk (2001) have
suggested that photographs be added to ballots in order to aid voter decision making. In
this paper we examine a set of elections where candidate photographs were displayed on
the ballot. We find that election results favored more attractive candidates but that these
effects were conditioned by the electoral rules. Less sophisticated cues such as ballot
position were more prominent in STV elections whereas cues based on candidate
characteristics were more prominent in multi-member plurality [MMP] elections.
* Paper prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Political Science
Association. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. August 28-August 31, 2003.
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