The Simple Act of Voting
- 1 March 1974
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in American Political Science Review
- Vol. 68 (2) , 572-591
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s000305540011740x
Abstract
The research reported in this article involved tests of a model by which voting decisions can be explained and predicted. Data for the tests came from surveys conducted in five presidential elections by the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan. Predictions made in terms of the model show it to be a good basis both for predicting the division of the vote and for predicting the votes of individual voters. Extensive analyses of incorrect predictions suggest them to be in great part the sort of errors one would expect, were voters arriving at their voting decisions in the manner described by the model. The validity of the model has implications of importance for practical politics, political history, and political theory.Keywords
This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
- An Expository Development of a Mathematical Model of the Electoral ProcessAmerican Political Science Review, 1970
- Public Opinion and the United States Supreme Court: Mapping of Some Prerequisites for Court Legitimation of Regime ChangesLaw & Society Review, 1968
- Response Validity: Vote ReportPublic Opinion Quarterly, 1968
- Some Dynamic Elements of Contests for the PresidencyAmerican Political Science Review, 1966
- American Voting BehaviorThe Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 1959
- Components of Electoral Decision.American Political Science Review, 1958