Wie sich Wähler beim Entscheiden unterscheiden

Voters differ in their political preferences as well as in the importance they assign to the different criteria they use when deciding who to vote for. The latter aspect was widely disregarded for a long time, but this heterogeneity can and should be incorporated into existing explanatory models of voter choice. Using the example of the German federal elections between 1998 and 2009, the analyses presented in this book reveal the causes and consequences of voter heterogeneity. They also demonstrate for which voter groups the established models have limited explanatory power. Based on these results, the book classifies voters into three types. Furthermore, by applying panel data, the analyses show that the importance of voters’ decision-making criteria varies intra-individually over time, which, for instance, can influence the chances of a swing vote occurring.