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Political Science Elections

The Motivation to Vote

Explaining Electoral Participation

by (author) André Blais & Jean-François Daoust

Publisher
UBC Press
Initial publish date
Feb 2020
Category
Elections, Democracy, History & Theory
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780774862707
    Publish Date
    Feb 2020
    List Price
    $34.99
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780774862677
    Publish Date
    Feb 2020
    List Price
    $34.95

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Description

Elections are at the heart of our democracy. Understanding citizens’ decisions to vote or to abstain in elections is crucial, especially when turnout in so many democracies is declining.

 

In The Motivation to Vote, André Blais and Jean-François Daoust provide an original and elegant model that explains why people vote. They argue that the decision to vote or abstain hinges on four factors: political interest, sense of civic duty, perceived importance of the election, and ease of voting. Their findings are strongly supported by empirical evidence from elections in five countries.

 

The authors also test alternative explanations of voter turnout by looking at contextual factors and the role of habit, but find little evidence to support these hypotheses. This analysis is compelling and further demonstrates the power of their model to provide a provocative and parsimonious explanation of voter turnout in elections.

About the authors

Andr� Blais is Professor of Political Science and Canada Research Chair in Electoral Studies at the Universit� de Montr�al.

André Blais' profile page

Jean-François Daoust's profile page