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The impact of voting advice applications on party choice in Dutch national and provincial elections

Klein Kranenburg, Laurens (2015) The impact of voting advice applications on party choice in Dutch national and provincial elections.

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Abstract:Advanced democracies witness a decline of party identification and increased electoral volatility. With the rise of the Internet, Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) became available to guide people’s vote choice. This study examines how the use of VAAs influences people’s party choice in Dutch elections. Three main VAA effects are studied: preference change, preference formation and preference confirmation. Drawing on three successive editions from the Dutch Parliamentary Election Study (DPES) and new Internet panel data collected over the course of the 2015 Dutch provincial elections campaign, we find that VAA use increases vote switching (preference change). VAAs also offer undecided citizens a cue to make their party choice (preference formation) and strengthen existing party preferences (preference confirmation). These findings attest to the relevance of VAAs as a vote cue in a volatile electoral context. Models of party choice would gain from incorporating VAA use as independent variable next to traditional vote predictors.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:88 social and public administration, 89 political science
Programme:Public Administration MSc (60020)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/67220
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