Description
Book SynopsisThis pioneering analysis uses the results from the first ever Irish election study to provide a comprehensive survey of the motives, outlook and behaviour of voters in the Republic of Ireland. Building on the foundations laid down by previous work on comparative electoral behaviour, it explores long-term influences on vote choice, such as party loyalties and enduring values, as well as short-term ones, such as the economy, the party leaders and the candidates themselves. It also examines how people use their vote and why so many people do not vote at all.
Many features of Irish elections make such a detailed study particularly important. The single transferable vote system allows voters an unusual degree of freedom to pick the candidates they prefer, while electoral trends observed elsewhere can be found in a more extreme form in Ireland. For example, attachment to parties is very low, differences between them are often obscure, candidate profiles are very high and turnout is
Table of Contents
List of tables
List of figures
1. Introduction
2. How people voted
3. The evidence for cleavage politics
4. The extent and meaning of party attachment
5. Credit and blame for the ‘Celtic Tiger’
6. Leaders and their parties
7. Grassroots campaigning
8. Parties or candidates?
9. Adding it all up
10. Voter turnout: the need for facilitation and mobilisation
11. Conclusion
References
Appendix I: Details of the survey
Appendix II: The Electoral System
Appendix III: Table for Chapter 9
Appendix III: Questionnaire with frequency distributions
Index
