Cues in Context: Analyzing the Heuristics of Referendum Voting with an Internet Survey Experiment

Abstract

A BSTRACT Internet surveys provide highly cost-effective opportunities for analysts to conduct experimental research. Unlike small-N laboratory experiments with unrepresentative groups, subjects in internet experiments can be large representative samples of populations of interest. This paper illustrates the potential of internet survey experiments by presenting the results of research conducted in a study of factors that affect political choice in major referendums. The experiment, conducted in the United States at the time of the 2006 mid-term elections, was designed to investigate the effects of cues provided by parties and their leaders on voting in a hypothetical national referendum to deny public services to illegal immigrants. Analyses indicate that these cues have conditional effects. Operating in a context where many voters have partisan identifications and dispositions towards messagesenders, party and leader cues influence voting net of other factors that drive political choice.Internet surveys offer political scientists a wide variety of exciting research opportunities. Experimentation is one of them. Internet surveys constitute a highly costeffective vehicle for conducting large-N experimental research. Unlike small-N laboratory experiments with unrepresentative groups, the subjects in large-N internet experiments can be representative samples of populations of interest, for example, the American electorate. Using contemporary computer technology, internet surveys provide researchers with the ability to conduct sophisticated experiments that present randomly varying combinations of visual and auditory stimuli to multiple treatment groups. In this paper, we illustrate the potential of internet survey experiments by presenting the results of research conducted as part of a larger study of factors that affect the political choices voters make in major referendums. Our experiment, which involves voting in a hypothetical national referendum to deny public services to illegal immigrants, was designed to investigate the effects of cues provided by political parties and leading politicians. Analyses show that cues have

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