The Psychology of Voters in
Elections
Michael Bruter
Sarah Harrison
The Psychology of Voters
Outline of Presentation

Voters’ electoral memory, responsibility and emotions associated
with the vote

What do citizens think about when they stand in the polling
booth?

Impact of electoral arrangements on electoral vote and voters’
perceptions of elections

A first attempt to explain participation and voting choice and
conclusions
Guiding research questions

What do people think about when they stand in the polling booth?

What is the impact of electoral memory, sense responsibility, and
individual-societal connection on electoral behaviour?

What are the emotions associated by citizens with the voting
experience?

What is the impact of electoral arrangements on the psychological
processes mobilised during the vote and how does it impact voting
behaviour?

Can we identify some atheoretical but startling relations between voting
behaviour and preferences or characteristics of voters?
Methodology
 Case
selection: the countries
 Case
selection: types of elections
 Research
design: multi-wave panel surveys,
interviews, spot-interviews, experiments etc.
Remembering elections

Voters remember past elections, including childhood
electoral experiences

Some of these memories are very ‘physical’ – impact of
station location, arrangement, atmosphere

Memories of problems (fraud, shock result, queues or
organisational problems) are always very vivid

Other memories are very individualised (individual
discussions, arguments, etc)
Memorable elections (UK 2010)
A lot/fair
amount
A little
Nothing
2005
53.0
30.5
16.5
1997
47.5
28.1
24.4
First time
35.8
37.1
27.1
2009 EP
35.2
34.7
30.1
Childhood
20.9
33.9
45.2
1979
25.4
22.2
52.4
Elections and Emotions

Voting is a highly emotional act!

Voters attach various positive and negative emotions to the act of
voting.

Many of these emotions are positive, including (in order) feeling of
importance (for the country and oneself), pride, excitement,
closeness to fellow citizens and even happiness.

However, they also include negative emotions such as worry and
pessimism.
Emotions associated with the
act of voting
Neither
Bored
13.6
47.8
38.7
Excited
Sad
5.5
61.1
33.4
Happy
Worried
19.2
64.1
16.7
Reassured
Nervous
16.7
44.4
38.9
Relaxed
Pessimistic
36.4
42.7
30.8
Optimistic
Ashamed
4.4
52.6
43.0
Proud
Emotions and voting mode

Emotions are significantly more positive for
people who go to vote in person as compared to
those who use postal voting. They feel prouder,
happier, and more excited about the vote than
those who use postal voting.

Moreover, voters in person also end up feeling
more reassured and more relaxed than those
who use postal voting.
Emotions, vote, voting mode
10
8
6
Vote in Person
Postal Vote
4
2
0
Emotion Index
Serenity Index
Specific emotions attached to
the vote
8
7
6
5
Vote in person
Postal vote
4
3
2
1
0
IMC
IMP
PRI
EXC HAP CLO CAL
OPT
REA
IMC: Importance for coutry, IMP: Personal importance, PRI: Pride, EXC: Excitement, HAP: Happiness,
CLO: Closeness to fellow countrymen, CAL: Calm, OPT: Optimism, REA: Reassurance
Thoughts in the polling booth
% who thought of it
Responsibility
78.8
Possible prime ministers
66.6
Constituency candidate
65.4
Vote of the rest of the country
61
‘Historical’ moment
51.8
Previous election
39.1
Family
38.8
Discussion about the election
37.2
Emotional thought
31.9
Happy thought
31.1
Some previous election
29
Something from the debates
28.9
Campaign message
28.2
Angry thought
25
Argument about the election
14.1
Campaign image
13.1
Next Steps…

Are the results verified in the context of advance
voting? (Australia)

How about the impact on electronic voting –
experiments

Consequences in terms of voting arrangements,
voters and children education, campaign
organisation, etc.
Forthcoming elections
Already conducted:
Australia (2010), Sweden (2010), UK referendum (2011)
And forthcoming…:
New Zealand November 2011 (election + referendum)
Russia January 2012
France May 2012
United States November 2012
Germany 2013
Israel 2013
… any many more
Watch this space!!