| Popis: |
A successful representative democracy requires informed voters that choose representatives who can make policy decisions that lead to successful governance. Voters have a wide range of information on candidates to use during voting, including heuristic, party, policy, and personality information. This information ranges in its ability to predict a candidates’ ability to successfully govern. During campaigns, candidates present policy and personality information to voters and only have time to present a restricted amount of information, creating important choices for candidates. Current research has focused on candidates' incentives to conceal some information and the ability of voters to process information. However, the overall preference of voters for policy or personality information has not been explored. This study investigates the importance voters place on personality and policy information. We conduct a conjoint analysis of policy positions, personality statements, and hobbies to determine the importance voters place on each. The result of this analysis is vital to understanding whether information presented in campaigns reflect the desires of voters and whether voters seek information that predicts candidates’ ability to successfully govern. |
