Campaign Activism and the Spatial Model: Getting Beyond Extremism to Explain Policy Motivated Participation |
| |
Authors: | Ryan L Claassen |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Political Science, Kent State University, P.O. Box 5190, Kent, OH 44242-0001, USA |
| |
Abstract: | To date, most models of policy motivated campaign participation claim participation derives from the intensity or extremism
of one’s policy views. I approach the policy motivation differently, generalizing the logic of proximity voting to model policy
motivated campaign participation. Modeling participation as a function of extremism captures the activist’s policy preferences
and suggests those with strong preferences participate more, while modeling participation as a function of proximity captures
both the activist’s policy preferences and the relevant comparisons to the positions of the candidates. Noting the two alternatives
lead to different predictions about variation in individual participation beyond turnout (e.g. campaign activities), I find
consistent support for a proximity model of activism and I find no independent effect of extremism once I control for proximity.
Moreover, the proximity model’s predictions about ideological responsiveness to changes in the candidates’ locations over
time prove robust, while predictions based solely on ideological extremism do not.
|
| |
Keywords: | Campaigns Activists Activism Downsian Spatial model Extremism Participation Elections |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|