How voters use grade scales in evaluative voting

Journal article: During the first round of the 2012 French presidential election, participants in an in situ experiment were invited to vote according to " evaluative voting " , which involves rating the candidates using a numerical scale. Various scales were used: (0,1), (-1,0,1), (0,1,2), and (0,1,…,20). The paper studies scale calibration effects, i.e., how individual voters adapt to the scale, leading to possibly different election outcomes. The data show that scales are not linearly equivalent, even if individual ordinal preferences are not inconsistent. Scale matters, notably because of the symbolic power of negative grades, which does not affect all candidates uniformly.

Author(s)

Antoinette Baujard, Frédéric Gavrel, Herrade Igersheim, Jean-François Laslier, Isabelle Lebon

Journal
  • European Journal of Political Economy
Date of publication
  • 2018
Keywords JEL
C93 D72
Keywords
  • In Situ Experiment
  • Range voting
  • Evaluative Voting
  • Approval voting
  • Calibration
Pages
  • pp. 14-28
Version
  • 1
Volume
  • 55