Realizing "strategic" voting in presidential primaries. (May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Culbert, Gar
• Is Part Of: Rationality and society. Volume 27:Number 2(2015:May)
• Page Start: 224
• Page End: 256
• Publication Date: 2015-05
• Subjects: Presidential primaries -- rational choice -- strategic voting -- voting behavior; Social sciences -- Periodicals; Reason -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 320.01
• DOI: 10.1177/1043463115576139
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1043-4631

Abstract

Those who study vote choice in presidential nominating contests often ask, "Are voters sincere (voting with their 'true' preferences), are they sophisticated (giving more weight to a candidate's chances of winning the nomination), or are they strategic (placing greater value on a candidate's chances of winning a general election)?" By analyzing survey data from the 1984, 1988, 2000, and 2004 presidential nominating contests, this study argues that voters are more strategic than previously understood, and that prior studies, confined by methodology and data, are often mistaken when they maintain that primary voters are sophisticated. In actuality, primary voters are more likely to cast strategic votes, and not sophisticated ones.