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Home Issues Backissues Volume 31, No.1 The Evaluation of Economic Voting and Voting Choice: 2001 Legislative Election of Taiwan

The Evaluation of Economic Voting and Voting Choice: 2001 Legislative Election of Taiwan

Bo-Yauo Wang
2004 / 05
Volume 11, No.1

pp.171-195
10.6612/tjes.2004.11.01.171-195
Paper

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss whether the evaluation of economic condition in electorate influences the voting choice. The election in Taiwan, with the bad economic condition, do the economic voting exist? When the electorate evaluate that the economic performance is bad, will they punish the ruling party by their votes? We will discuss the relation between the evaluation of economic conditions and voting choices, attributive theory and the heterogeneity of economic voting. From the discovery of this article, there is obvious difference between personal and national evaluation of economic conditions and voting choices. In the multinomial voting model, the economic evaluation that affects the voting choices is not the main factor. Therefore, by using attributive theory and sample choosing, I find some electorate who has the economic voting character. But in the testing of the heterogeneity of economic voting, political trust and the national economic evaluation don't exist the interaction. The effect of economic evaluation to the voting decision doesn't be affected by political trust. We can know that there is heterogeneity in the economic voting of Taiwan electorate. However, what kind of variable causes the effect is the main continuous issue.

Keywords

economic voting

heterogeneity

attribution theory

party identification

political trust