Factors Influencing Voting Behavior: A Political Science Report

This report delves into the intricacies of voting behavior within the context of political science, primarily focusing on the factors that influence voter decisions during elections. It begins by outlining the electoral process, referencing Canada's federal parliamentary democracy as an example, and then transitions into a discussion of key determinants of voting behavior. These determinants include electoral contestation, which encompasses the level of competition in a political region and its impact on voter choices. The report further explores how political, cultural, religious, and racial factors, along with inherent emotions, political campaigns, party socialization, political views, and media influence voting decisions. It examines the impact of different election types, such as presidential, legislative, local, and referendum elections, on voter criteria. The report highlights the role of attitudinal factors, partisan loyalties, and ideological orientations in shaping voting behavior. It also considers the influence of socioeconomic factors like income, occupation, education, race, and religion on voter decisions, and the role of political campaigns and media in shaping voter perception and choices. Several theoretical models are discussed to interpret and analyze voting behavior. The report concludes by summarizing the dynamics of the electoral process, emphasizing the interplay of political ideologies, socioeconomic links, and the impact of mass media on voting behavior. The report also references the effects of education, employment, and religion on voting behavior.

0Running head: POLITICAL SCIENCE
Political science
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Introduction
In a democratic country, elections are one of the most importance event for citizens as
well as the political parties as this has a direct impact on the democratic process and
development of the country. People participate in elections so that they can choose their
representative. Different people may have different rational to choose their own representative.
However, in countries dominated by political parties, the voting behavior is no more a personal
concept. Political figures play a key role in influencing the voting behavior and engaging in
unique campaigns to catch the attention of the public. This report discusses the process of
election and determines how different factors have an impact on the voting behavior of countries.
Discussion on important factors influencing on voting behavior during elections
The electoral process in different countries varies according to the type of government
established in countries. Canada has a federal parliamentary democracy where the electoral
system has evolved in response to country’s geography. The Constitution Act of 1867 and 1982
has defined the time interval after which federal elections should be held which is five year. The
only exception to this rule is in the times of apprehended war or invasion. The role of geography
is seen in the democratic representation because geographical divisions like electoral districts
define the representation of members in the House of Common. This is a short description or
overview for the elections process in Canada. Just like Canada, electoral process in other
democratic countries is also defined by the constitution and certain constitutional Acts (Elections
Canada Online | The Electoral System of Canada, 2017). However, the main focus of this report
is not the regular electoral process in countries, but the impact of certain political factors on
voting behavior.

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` The changes in voting behavior can be explained by proper understanding about the
concept of electoral contestation. This is defined as the degree of election based competition in a
political region. The presence of high and minimal contestation in a region also influences the
voting behavior of people. In case of minimal contestation, the incumbent party always occupies
the seat whereas in case of high contestation, frequent turnover in political power is seen
(Gerring et al., 2015). It has also been found that voting behavior during the contestation process
is also affected by size of unit. For example, larger geographical units have greater contestation
and this in turn affects voting behavior. This can be said because larger unit has more chances of
constituent diversity. Hence, political parties aiming to get the desired seat focus a lot on
understanding voting behavior of citizens. This enables them to take the right strategy to bring
public towards their side. The prediction of voting behavior is mainly done by considering
political, culture, religious and race of a group. In addition certain, inherent emotions, political
campaigns, socialization of parties, political views and media affect the voting behavior (Gerring
et al., 2015). On the basis of this explanation, it can be said that voting behavior is affected by
both internal and external influence. The degree to which these factors affects voting behavior
also determines whether correct democratic decision has been taken by citizens or not.
Voting behavior is also modified according to type of elections. This can be said because
people have different criteria while taking voting decision during presidential, legislative, local
or referendum election. Therefore, the logic for taking voting decision changes if the voting is
for national or regional elections. In case of national level elections, people mainly take decisions
on the basis of political beliefs and in case of local elections, they try to evaluate the capability of
the candidate to bring changes in the local region. In addition, evaluation of certain public

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policies, government performance and characteristics of individual candidates act as the major
source of individual voting behavior (Mintz, Close, & Croci, 2017).
The evaluation of political parties or candidates by voters is again affected by attitudinal
factors of citizens. For example, voter’s attitudes towards a party affect their ability to vote.
Some citizens identify with a specific political party because of their loyalty towards the party.
Hence, partisan loyalties can affect evaluation and assessment of candidates and perception of
the party’s contribution in the countries. Apart from this, there are certain ideological
orientations too which affect voting behavior. For example, some people may have explicit
understanding about political ideologies and they tend to critically analyze different factors while
deciding to vote for a candidate. However, there are other sections too who have no political
interest or lacks the knowledge and qualification to understand role of political parties in the
development of their region. Hence, such voters are very liberals in their decision and they may
be easily influenced by the current action or campaigns of political parties. On the whole, it can
be said that on the basis of ideology and attitude of voters, the electoral behavior and the
electoral dynamic change dramatically. One of the significant and long term change in electoral
dynamics is seen when basic loyalties towards a party change all of sudden and complete
realignment of the party system takes place.
Personal background of voter such as their income level, occupation and upbringing also
influence their decision. Race, education and religion also affects the decision to vote a
candidate. There is controversial argument regarding allowing only educated people the right to
vote. This is because educated people have better capability to choose the right candidate for
their constituency compared to illiterate people (Mintz, Close, & Croci, 2017). The relationship
between socioeconomic status and voting behavior is an important topic in research. The level of

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education, income and occupation acts as a significant factor in influencing voting decision,
voting behavior and attitude towards voting. For instance, educated voters have the best chance
to have their view represented. However, there are socioeconomically disadvantaged group in the
community too who rely on government programs and external provocation to engage in the
voting process. Education is also considered the most important socioeconomic factor in
elections because it affects the voter turnout percentage. Educated people are aware about the
role of the political system and the act of voting in connecting with realities of their lives. In
addition they also have all the information regarding national and international events through
social media (Cohen & Chaffee, 2013). Hence, they regard voting as an opportunity and
participate actively it. Less educated people on the other hand mostly tend to skip voting.
The analysis of campaign issues and types of political campaigns during election also
helps to study voting behavior. Political parties tend to use campaigns as a source to give
important message to public and televisions, mass media, social media act as the major source to
connect with voters and pass key political message to the public. Such campaign greatly
influence voting behavior and voting decisions because it clarified the public regarding important
party policies, vision and core political agendas. This helps voters to make informed choice
during voting. With the advent of technology and the digital media, political leaders are taking
innovative methods to disseminate campaign message to public. For example, currently
advertising is regarded as a powerful tool to directly connect with public and inform them about
their key political agenda (Mintz, Close, & Croci, 2017). Therefore, political parties spend a
huge amount in political ad campaigns to craft the best campaign message and influence the
choice of people during voting decision.

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The perception of voter’s regarding the candidate also has an impact on voting behavior
during elections. The voter are loyal to specific parties only because of their influence on
implementing important government policies or bringing significant changes in their life.
However, with the use of mass media tools, political powers have taken the advantage and
manipulated voter’s perception regarding a political figure or party. The advantage of mass
media has been realized in elections because of number of reasons. Firstly, it helps to
communicate political message to large group of people. Secondly, there is also scope for
transmitting propaganda selectively. Thirdly, political leaders get the advantage to adopt
different communication styles and format to pass the message. Hence, the way message are
disseminated through media tools have an impact on voter’s attitude. Mass media act as powerful
source to shape as well as change voting behavior (Cohen & Chaffee, 2013). Several theoretical
models have also tried to explain voting behavior. Political parties can take the help of
sociological and psychosocial models to interpret and analysis voting behavior and develop their
campaign plans accordingly.
Conclusion:
The report summarizes the dynamics of the electoral process by discussion about the
impact of several factors on voting behavior. Apart from political ideologies and loyalty towards
a party, many socioeconomic links between voting behavior and elections has also been found
For instance, discussion has highlighted about the difference in voting behavior due to education,
employment and religion. The attitude and perception towards political parties also challenges
political powers to take innovative step to manipulate voter’s choice during voting process. The
mass media has emerged as a powerful tool for political parties to disseminate important
message and affect behavior.

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Reference
Cohen, A. K., & Chaffee, B. W. (2013). The relationship between adolescents’ civic knowledge,
civic attitude, and civic behavior and their self-reported future likelihood of
voting. Education, citizenship and social justice, 8(1), 43-57.
Elections Canada Online | The Electoral System of Canada. (2017). Elections.ca. Retrieved 20
November 2017, from http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?
dir=ces&document=part1&lang=e&section=res
Gerring, J., Palmer, M., Teorell, J., & Zarecki, D. (2015). Demography and democracy: A
global, district-level analysis of electoral contestation. American Political Science
Review, 109(3), 574-591.
Mintz, E., Close, D., & Croci, O. (2017). Politics, Power and the Common Good: An
Introduction to Political Science (4th ed.). Canada: Pearson Education.