The Motivation to Vote

Explaining Electoral Participation

By André Blais & Jean-François Daoust
Categories: Political Science, Government & Elections, Political Theory, Social Sciences, Sociology
Publisher: UBC Press
Hardcover : 9780774862677, 156 pages, February 2020
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774862691, 156 pages, February 2020
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774862707, 156 pages, February 2020
Ebook (MobiPocket) : 9780774862714, 152 pages, February 2020

Table of contents

1 The Decision to Vote or Not to Vote

2 Who Votes?

3 Do I Like Politics?

4 Do I Have a Duty to Vote?

5 Do I Care about the Outcome?

6 Is It Easy to Vote?

7 Is Voting a Habit?

8 Does It All Depend on the Context?

9 Conclusion

Appendices; Notes; References; Index

An original, parsimonious, and elegant explanation of why we vote or abstain in elections.

Description

Elections are at the heart of our democracy. Understanding citizens’ decisions to vote or to abstain in elections is crucial, especially when turnout is declining. In this book, André Blais and Jean-François Daoust provide an original and elegant model that explains why people vote, based on four factors: political interest, sense of civic duty, perceived importance of the election, and ease of voting. Their findings are strongly supported by empirical evidence from elections in five countries. The analysis is compelling and demonstrates the power of their model to provide a provocative and parsimonious explanation of voter turnout in elections.