Voting Behaviour and the Assessment of Government Performance

Abstract

Voters evaluate the incumbent government’s performance when deciding how (or whether) to vote. In democracies with many parties, these assessments may vary across electorates of different parties, as well as across supporters of government versus opposition parties. This panel invites papers addressing how the context in which voters evaluate government performance affects voting behaviour. For example, when the incumbent government comprises different parties, is it the case that (all) voters evaluate the coalition partners equally? Does an incumbent government’s performance have a smaller effect on voting decisions if more than one government coalition held office following the preceding election? Do voters have access to the same level of information about government performance for all governments (and all government parties), or are some electoral contexts more transparent than others? Papers exploring the connections between accountability, representation, government instability, and government performance (broadly construed) are welcomed.

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