Inside the Mind of a Voter: A New Approach to Electoral Psychology

Michael Bruter; Sarah Harrison

Published by Princeton University Press 2020

Inside the Mind of a Voter

A New Approach to Electoral Psychology

Michael Bruter and Sarah Harrison

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691202013

Overview
Contents

About this book

An in-depth look into the psychology of voters around the world, how voters shape elections, and how elections transform citizens and affect their lives

Could understanding whether elections make people happy and bring them closure matter more than who they vote for? What if people did not vote for what they want but for what they believe is right based on roles they implicitly assume? Do elections make people cry? This book invites readers on a unique journey inside the mind of a voter using unprecedented data from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, South Africa, and Georgia throughout a period when the world evolved from the centrist dominance of Obama and Mandela to the shock victories of Brexit and Trump. Michael Bruter and Sarah Harrison explore three interrelated aspects of the heart and mind of voters: the psychological bases of their behavior, how they experience elections and the emotions this entails, and how and when elections bring democratic resolution. The authors examine unique concepts including electoral identity, atmosphere, ergonomics, and hostility.

From filming the shadow of voters in the polling booth, to panel study surveys, election diaries, and interviews, Bruter and Harrison unveil insights into the conscious and subconscious sides of citizens’ psychology throughout a unique decade for electoral democracy. They highlight how citizens’ personality, memory, and identity affect their vote and experience of elections, when elections generate hope or hopelessness, and how subtle differences in electoral arrangements interact with voters’ psychology to trigger different emotions.

Inside the Mind of a Voter radically shifts electoral science, moving away from implicitly institution-centric visions of behavior to understand elections from the point of view of voters.

Author information

Michael Bruter is professor of political science at the London School of Economics and director of the Electoral Psychology Observatory (EPO). Sarah Harrison is assistant professorial research fellow at the LSE and deputy director of the EPO. They are the coauthors of Mapping Extreme Right Ideology, The Future of Our Democracies, and, with Bart Cammaerts, Shaku Banaji, and Nick Anstead, Youth Participation in Democratic Life.

Reviews

"This innovative and ambitious landmark book shakes up electoral research and transforms our thinking about elections: how they are seen and studied, and what they mean to citizens. Using multiple methods and spanning several elections in different countries, Inside the Mind of a Voter asks big questions and pioneers a new mode of studying elections. A tour de force."—Claes de Vreese, University of Amsterdam

"Inside the Mind of a Voter seeks to understand the determinants of voting and the place of elections in the life of the voter. This book presents an extraordinarily well-presented survey of findings and cutting-edge research design, and its importance to political science, political theory, and social psychology cannot be overstated."—Mark Franklin, Trinity College, Connecticut

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
TABLE OF CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface and Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Chapter Synopses Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
1 Homo Suffragator Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Mapping the Mind of a Voter: Anatomy of Homo Suffragator Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
3 A Day in the Life of a Voter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
4 Personality and Morality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
5 Electoral Memory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
6 Electoral Identity and Individual– Societal Dynamics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
7 Elections and Emotions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
8 Electoral Ergonomics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	240
9 Electoral Resolution and Atmosphere: From Hope to Hostility Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
10 Coda: Flipping the Electoral World Upside-Down: Homo Suffragator beyond the Age of Reason Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291
Glossary of Concepts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	315
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	335
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	345

Language: English
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 376
Illustrations
- Other: 40 b/w illus.
Keywords: Homo suffragator; individual-societal psarojection; democratic citizen; voter physiology; societal projection; projected efficacy; partisanship; partisan identification; electoral habits; participation; appropriation; hope; reconciliation; choice; resolution; dependent variables; Election Day; ballot; electorate; democratic closure; voting; electoral outcome

eBook

Published: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 9780691202013