Candidates or Parties?

Abstract

Under many electoral systems, voters can choose between candidates, and, under some systems, between candidates of the same party — a situation that makes it possible for candidates to seek a personal vote. Studies of some countries have shown how personal voting is apparent in the success of particular types of candidates, notably incumbents, but there is little systematic study of personal motives among the electors themselves. The single transferable vote system (STV) used in Ireland certainly allows electors to choose between candidates as well as parties and therefore is seen as providing a strong incentive for candidates to seek personal votes. While aggregate evidence from election results has pointed to the primary importance of party, survey data have suggested that close to a majority of voters are primarily candidate-centred. In this article, an extensive set of instruments contained in the 2002 Irish election study is used to explore the extent to which voters decide on candidate-centred factors as opposed to party-centred factors. It is shown that a substantial minority decide on the basis of candidate factors, and typical models of Irish electoral behaviour have not accommodated the heterogeneity that results from this mix of motives. However, direct questions about motives probably underestimate the extent of party-centred voting.