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- Title
Competence in the Eye of the Electorate: Appearance, Incumbency, and Vote Shares.
- Authors
Bilson, Thomas; Rai, Birendra; Smyth, Russell; Wang, Liang Choon
- Abstract
Prior studies have documented incumbency advantage for electoral candidates. A largely unrelated strand of literature has shown that perceived competence of candidates, as inferred from their physical appearance, also predicts their electoral success. We draw upon the framework of statistical discrimination and the dual‐system theory of human cognition to understand the relationship between a political candidate's vote share, physical appearance, and incumbency status. Voters possess relatively richer information about incumbents compared to challengers. Perceived competence of candidates, as inferred from their physical appearance, is therefore expected to have a relatively weaker influence on voters' decisions to vote for incumbents. Data from Australian state elections support this prediction.
- Subjects
VOTING; VOTERS; POLITICAL candidates; INCUMBENCY (Public officers)
- Publication
Legislative Studies Quarterly, 2024, Vol 49, Issue 1, p187
- ISSN
0362-9805
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/lsq.12420