How do parties influence voters

These questions are not always easily answered. Looking only at the campaign events and incidents will not suffice. The unique aspects of the election must be blended with a more general understanding of electoral behavior to create a full explanation. We thus need to discuss basic concepts and ideas used in the study of voting behavior as a basis for analyzing the results.

Two major concerns characterize the study of electoral behavior. One concern is with explaining the election result by identifying the sources of individual voting behavior. We attempt to understand the election outcome by understanding how and why the voters made up their minds. Another major concern in voting research emphasizes changes in voting patterns over time, usually with an attempt to determine what the election results tell us about the direction in which American politics is moving.

In this case, we focus on the dynamics of electoral behavior, especially in terms of present and future developments. These two concerns are complementary, not contradictory, but they do emphasize different sets of research questions.

For our purposes, these two concerns provide a useful basis for discussing key aspects of voting behavior. On what basis do voters decide how they will cast their ballot? Several basic factors can be identified as reasons for choosing a candidate in an presidential election. A voter may choose a candidate on the basis of one or more of the following considerations:. When voters are asked what they like or dislike about a specific candidate--i. These orientations and evaluations in turn are influenced by two more general attitudinal factors:.

Party identification and ideology are more general, long-run factors that influence the attitudes that are more immediate to the vote decision in a particular year. The parties that are usually associated with social welfare are leftist or socialist. But our findings show that political social responsibility has benefits for parties and candidates across the political spectrum.

Voters may associate social causes with a party or candidate. Social responsibility can also help to build a political brand. A party must also remind the electorate about these activities. This requires strong and strategic communication programmes. First, parties should consider conducting baseline studies of how voters perceive their current social responsibility profiles.

As they deploy programmes to build and win voter confidence, they should regularly check through studies whether these are having the desired effect. Then they need to hit the streets. This means getting involved in, for instance, environmental causes and engaging with their local communities. This work must happen at a party level, of course.

But individual candidates should be out there, too. This will foster voter affinity. We also propose that parties should seek funding from corporate entities that share the same social concerns. The Democratic Party also places more emphasis on issues such as environmental protection, nondiscrimination laws and affirmative action, and helping the poor and disadvantaged.

Political parties should choose distinctive social responsibility initiatives that align with their philosophical positions. This will help them win over undecided voters while also consolidating support from their core electoral base. However, not many voters in cast a ballot for McCain simply because he was a Republican or for Obama only because he was a Democrat.

Rather, partisan loyalties influence evaluations of candidates, assessments of government performance, and perceptions of political events. Put simply, party identification is a perceptual screen: a pair of partisan-tinted eyeglasses through which the voter views the political world. Thus, most Republicans developed many reasons to vote for McCain, and most Democrats many reasons to prefer Obama.