VALIDACION DE UNA BATERIA PARA IDENTIFICAR EL PAPEL DE LA IDEOLOGIA EN LAS DECISIONES ELECTORALES

In: Psicologia politica, Heft 49, S. 59-82

Abstract

Spatial-vote theory assumes that people use ideology as a shortcut to make electoral choices. However, this assumption is only valid if voters can find a relationship between ideology and the behavior of the parties and candidates that hold it. Attitudes towards political candidates, on the other hand, could explain better the choices that voters make. Following a factor analysis procedure, the present study aims to validate a battery of instruments able to measure both: the ideological position of voters, and their attitudes towards candidates, in order to establish relationships between those variables, and electoral decision-making. The proposed set of instruments was applied to 179 undergraduate Mexican students - a population presumably highly ideologized - using information from a fictitious electoral situation. Adapted from the source document.