Preference Voting in Italy

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Abstract
Intraparty preference voting is a potentially important possibility for voters in many proportional representation systems, especially the Italian system. Three hypotheses—that preference voting is an indicator of traditionalism or the voto di scambio, sophistication or the voto d'opinione, and mobilization or the voto d'appartenenza—are considered using survey data and logistic regression models. All three hypotheses are supported by the data. Although the support for the individual-level traditionalism account is weakest, the data suggest that traditional political culture may contribute to the contextual prerequisites for sophistication or mobilization to lead to preference voting. Overall, it is suggested that the three explanations are complementary rather than contradictory, and that contextual effects must be considered in a full account of preference voting.

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