It's the occupation, stupid! Explaining candidates' success in low-information elections

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It's the occupation, stupid! Explaining candidates' success in low-information elections. / Mechtel, Mario.
In: European Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 33, 03.2014, p. 53-70.

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@article{e5aca9e79e0e4fd1b3027e0ba53509e2,
title = "It's the occupation, stupid! Explaining candidates' success in low-information elections",
abstract = "Do voters use ballot paper information on the personal characteristics of political candidates as cues in low-information elections? Using a unique dataset containing 4423 political candidates from recent elections in Germany, we show that candidates' occupations do play an important role in their electoral success. The occupational impact is far greater than gender or doctoral degree effects for a large number of occupations. We discuss three possible explanations for these {"}occupational effects{"}: (a) an occupation's public reputation, (b) the extent to which individuals carrying out certain occupations are known within their communities, and (c) occupation specific competence related to issues relevant for local politics. Looking at polls on the reputation/prestige of certain jobs, we find a strong correlation between an occupation's reputation and the electoral success of a candidate carrying out this occupation. Therefore, voters appear to use occupational reputation as a cue in low-information elections.",
keywords = "Informational shortcuts, Low-information elections, Occupational reputation, Political economy, Economics",
author = "Mario Mechtel",
year = "2014",
month = mar,
doi = "10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2013.11.008",
language = "English",
volume = "33",
pages = "53--70",
journal = "European Journal of Political Economy",
issn = "0176-2680",
publisher = "Elsevier B.V.",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - It's the occupation, stupid! Explaining candidates' success in low-information elections

AU - Mechtel, Mario

PY - 2014/3

Y1 - 2014/3

N2 - Do voters use ballot paper information on the personal characteristics of political candidates as cues in low-information elections? Using a unique dataset containing 4423 political candidates from recent elections in Germany, we show that candidates' occupations do play an important role in their electoral success. The occupational impact is far greater than gender or doctoral degree effects for a large number of occupations. We discuss three possible explanations for these "occupational effects": (a) an occupation's public reputation, (b) the extent to which individuals carrying out certain occupations are known within their communities, and (c) occupation specific competence related to issues relevant for local politics. Looking at polls on the reputation/prestige of certain jobs, we find a strong correlation between an occupation's reputation and the electoral success of a candidate carrying out this occupation. Therefore, voters appear to use occupational reputation as a cue in low-information elections.

AB - Do voters use ballot paper information on the personal characteristics of political candidates as cues in low-information elections? Using a unique dataset containing 4423 political candidates from recent elections in Germany, we show that candidates' occupations do play an important role in their electoral success. The occupational impact is far greater than gender or doctoral degree effects for a large number of occupations. We discuss three possible explanations for these "occupational effects": (a) an occupation's public reputation, (b) the extent to which individuals carrying out certain occupations are known within their communities, and (c) occupation specific competence related to issues relevant for local politics. Looking at polls on the reputation/prestige of certain jobs, we find a strong correlation between an occupation's reputation and the electoral success of a candidate carrying out this occupation. Therefore, voters appear to use occupational reputation as a cue in low-information elections.

KW - Informational shortcuts

KW - Low-information elections

KW - Occupational reputation

KW - Political economy

KW - Economics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84890936895&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/4cfb9e73-82f2-3241-a7b2-aebe18056abe/

U2 - 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2013.11.008

DO - 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2013.11.008

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84890936895

VL - 33

SP - 53

EP - 70

JO - European Journal of Political Economy

JF - European Journal of Political Economy

SN - 0176-2680

ER -