Information effect on voter turnout: how campaign spending mobilises voters

We explore the impact of campaign effort on constituency-level turnout variation in Britain, under the premise that higher levels of campaign visibility stimulate electoral participation. We focus on the relationship between the competitiveness of the race and campaign effort as a provider of electo...

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Main Authors: Trumm, Siim, Sudulich, Laura, Townsley, Joshua
Format: Article
Published: Palgrave Macmillan 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37784/
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author Trumm, Siim
Sudulich, Laura
Townsley, Joshua
author_facet Trumm, Siim
Sudulich, Laura
Townsley, Joshua
author_sort Trumm, Siim
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description We explore the impact of campaign effort on constituency-level turnout variation in Britain, under the premise that higher levels of campaign visibility stimulate electoral participation. We focus on the relationship between the competitiveness of the race and campaign effort as a provider of electoral information on the one hand, and voter turnout on the other hand. In doing so, we address the role of campaign effort and competitiveness in shaping turnout both independently as well as jointly. Further to this, we seek to add nuance to our understanding of how electoral campaigns mobilise voters by evaluating the comparative ability of different parties – based on whether or not they are ‘viable’ contenders in a particular constituency – to stimulate turnout. We find evidence that campaign effort mobilises voters and has a significant positive effect on voter turnout; this effect is independent from, and unconditioned by, the competitiveness of the race. However, we do find that this effect is mostly driven by the campaign effort of the ‘viable’ contenders in the constituency.
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spelling nottingham-377842020-05-04T18:19:45Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37784/ Information effect on voter turnout: how campaign spending mobilises voters Trumm, Siim Sudulich, Laura Townsley, Joshua We explore the impact of campaign effort on constituency-level turnout variation in Britain, under the premise that higher levels of campaign visibility stimulate electoral participation. We focus on the relationship between the competitiveness of the race and campaign effort as a provider of electoral information on the one hand, and voter turnout on the other hand. In doing so, we address the role of campaign effort and competitiveness in shaping turnout both independently as well as jointly. Further to this, we seek to add nuance to our understanding of how electoral campaigns mobilise voters by evaluating the comparative ability of different parties – based on whether or not they are ‘viable’ contenders in a particular constituency – to stimulate turnout. We find evidence that campaign effort mobilises voters and has a significant positive effect on voter turnout; this effect is independent from, and unconditioned by, the competitiveness of the race. However, we do find that this effect is mostly driven by the campaign effort of the ‘viable’ contenders in the constituency. Palgrave Macmillan 2016-11-29 Article PeerReviewed Trumm, Siim, Sudulich, Laura and Townsley, Joshua (2016) Information effect on voter turnout: how campaign spending mobilises voters. Acta Politica, 52 (4). pp. 461-478. ISSN 1741-1416 Electoral Participation Competitiveness Campaign Information Great Britain http://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41269-016-0027-8 doi:10.1057/s41269-016-0027-8 doi:10.1057/s41269-016-0027-8
spellingShingle Electoral Participation
Competitiveness
Campaign Information
Great Britain
Trumm, Siim
Sudulich, Laura
Townsley, Joshua
Information effect on voter turnout: how campaign spending mobilises voters
title Information effect on voter turnout: how campaign spending mobilises voters
title_full Information effect on voter turnout: how campaign spending mobilises voters
title_fullStr Information effect on voter turnout: how campaign spending mobilises voters
title_full_unstemmed Information effect on voter turnout: how campaign spending mobilises voters
title_short Information effect on voter turnout: how campaign spending mobilises voters
title_sort information effect on voter turnout: how campaign spending mobilises voters
topic Electoral Participation
Competitiveness
Campaign Information
Great Britain
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37784/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37784/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37784/