Implementation Intentions, Information, and Voter Turnout: An Experimental Study

Abstract

Are citizens more likely to vote when they are asked to make plans about how they will cast their ballots? Such planning-typically described as "implementation intentions"-has been shown to increase many types of desirable behaviors, including exercising and healthy eating, receiving vaccinations, physical rehabilitation, and recycling. Important earlier work in political science suggests voter turnout can also be influenced by implementation intention interventions, whereby electors are prompted to "make a plan" to vote (Nickerson & Rogers, 2010), though this finding has gone largely unreplicated. At the same time, elections management bodies (EMBs) in many contexts regularly conduct informational campaigns in the period leading up to elections, though little is known about the effects of such efforts upon turnout. Using data from an online experiment conducted at the time of the 2015 Canadian Federal Election, we demonstrate that implementation intention interventions can improve voter turnout but that this effect is conditional upon electors being exposed to informational materials about how to vote in the election. When survey respondents were provided with information on voting requirements and methods, and then prompted with questions forcing them to contemplate the act of casting their ballots, we observe a sizable increase in turnout rates.

Dodging the autocratic bullet: Enlisting behavioural science to arrest democratic backsliding

“…For households with two or more voters, however, the intervention reduced turnout by 1.5 percent, probably because these households would discuss voting and make a plan anyway. Anderson et al (2018) found that, in addition to making a voting plan, individuals need to be exposed to relevant, clear information material about the election. Furthermore, the salience of norms that represent a group's collective values influences voting intentions, regardless of how close or significant a group (e.g., friends, family) is to the individual (Bourgeois & de la Sablonnière, 2023).…”

Realigning individual behavior with societal values: The role of planning in injunctive‐norm interventions aimed at increasing voter turnout

“…It suggests that prompting individuals to develop plans for action increases the chances that they act in line with the desired behavior. Anderson et al (2018) found that encouraging individuals the week before the 2015 Canadian Federal Election to plan where, when and for whom to vote resulted in higher turnout, when participants had access to informational material about how to vote. Similar results were also observed in Nickerson & Rogers' study (2010) who found that implementation intentions prompted voting among single-eligible-voter households in the context of the 2008 American presidential election.…”

Influence of online searches for campaign messages on voting behaviour in Ghana

“…Studies highlight that the behaviour of voters is influenced by several factors. For instance, socio-demographic factors such as educational level [ 4 ], age [ [5] , [6] , [7] ]; and gender [ 8 ]. Other factors include the social environment and election campaign characteristics.…”