Specification Issues in Proximity Models of Candidate Evaluation (with Issue Importance)

Bryce E. Corrigan Department of Political Science, University of Michigan, 5700 Haven Hall, 505 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1045 e-mail: becorrig{at}umich.edu e-mail: grynaviski{at}uchicago.edu (corresponding author) The use of the proximity model to represent the relationshipbetween citizens' policy attitudes and the positions of candidateson the issues of the day has considerable appeal because itoffers a bridge between theoretical models of political behaviorand empirical work. However, there is little consensus amongapplied researchers about the appropriate representation ofvoter behavior with respect to the measurement of issue distance,candidate location, or whether to allow heterogeneity in theweight that each individual places on particular issues. Eachof these choices suggests a different, and reasonably complicated,nonlinear relationship between voter utility and candidate andvoter issue positions which may have a meaningful influenceon the substantive conclusions drawn by the researcher. Yet,little attention has been given to the best way to representthe proximity model in applied work. The purpose of this paperis to identify which forms of the proximity model work best,with particular consideration given to the identification offunctional forms that are invariant to the choice of scale forthe independent variables.