Gender and voting behavior: Political psychology analysis for voting behavior in Indonesian

Abstract

There are interesting developments of political psychology, particularly in the effort of women in politic arena. Until the mid-year 2007, at least 82 women were recorded following the elections in 232 provincial-level regions and districts level. Out of the above, 26 women (30.76%) registered as a candidate for the leader of region and 57 women (69.24%), registered as a deputy leader of the region, although only eight women who are successfully elected as the leader of region and 11 elected as deputy leaders of regional (Arifin, 2008). With direct elections as happened today, making the candidates should follow the "interest" of voters. Efforts to understand the voter?s behavior, feelings and thinking do not always easy. The old ways by making a donation of material deemed not affect voters more powerful. One possible solution is the assessment needs of the voter. Fullfillness of voter?s needs is not always easy because there are differences of character between communities, genders and individuals that influence their voting behavior. Voting behavior was defined as a voter in the decision to vote for certain candidates in both the legislative and executive elections. In political science, there are two kinds of approaches in analyzing the voting behavior. 1). sociological approach. Person?s background, gender, social class, race, religion, and ideology determine the decision to voting according the approach. 2). psychological approach. In this approach, value, personal qualities of the candidates, issues which developed by candidate and loyalty to the party are influence voter?s choice. Some research shows that there exist different patterns of voting behavior between men and women. Women are more conservative in determining her choosen than men (Inglehart & Norris, 2000). The study involved 90 students (45 women and 45 men). To take data used scenarios about election for leader of region (bupati). Than subyek choose Male or female as a leader, or not vote at all. Each alternative answer to the subjects ...