Valence politics and voting in the 2012 U.S. presidential election

• Harold Clarke ^[1] ; Jason Reifler ^[2] ; Thomas J. Scotto ^[3] ; Marianne C. Stewart ^[1] ; Paul Whiteley ^[3]
  1. [1] University of Texas at Dallas

     University of Texas at Dallas

     Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] University of Exeter

     University of Exeter

     Exeter District, Reino Unido

     
  3. [3] University of Essex

     University of Essex

     Colchester District, Reino Unido

     

  Mostrar afiliaciones +
• Localización: Electoral Studies: An international Journal, ISSN 0261-3794, Nº 40, 2015, págs. 462-470
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2014.09.011
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
• Resumen

  • This paper analyzes voting behavior in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Using national survey data gathered in the 2012 Political Support in America project, the paper investigates the ability of a valence politics model of electoral choice to account for voting in that election. Multivariate analyses reveal that a valence politics model comprised of judgments about party performance on important issues, flexible partisan attachments, and images of the two major presidential candidates outperforms rival models and provides a parsimonious and powerful explanation of decisions voters made. The analyses show that although several factors had significant effects on the vote, the impact of candidate images was especially strong. Although many voters expressed doubts about Obama's competence, even more were unconvinced that Romney offered a viable alternative. Most voters were unenthusiastic about Romney and this cost him dearly at the ballot box.