Partisan Bias, Political Information and Spatial Voting in the 2008 Presidential Election

摘要: This article provides direct estimates of the parameters spatial utility models voting using data from 2008 presidential election. By measuring citizens’ views on issues for which candidates' stances are known, I estimate voter ideology same scale as candidate positions. Using these estimates, demonstrate that policy exerts a strong influence vote choice most voters. While independents appear to cast their ballots in accordance with assumptions unbiased voting, partisans strongly biased toward party’s nominee by standards. At lower levels political information, voters influenced primarily party identification, having little impact choice. More highly informed citizens, contrast, show relationships between and As information increase, biases exhibited partisan decreases, but even among significant re...