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政治行为

Education and the Unequal Costs of Voting: Administrative Burdens and Democratic Participation

·631 字·2 分钟
Polihot 公共政策 政治行为 Administrative Burden Voting Education Democratic Participation Election Administration
PSJ 54/3 2026-03-06 Original Education and the Unequal Costs of Voting: Administrative Burdens and Democratic Participation Cameron J. Arnzen Abstract ABSTRACT Administrative burdens are an inherent feature of citizen–state interactions, shaping who can access public programs and exercise fundamental rights. These burdens are not distributed evenly; instead, they tend to exacerbate inequality by imposing disproportionate costs on individuals with fewer resources or skills. Given that some administrative burdens exacerbate complexity, this paper investigates an understudied dimension upon which burdens may have disproportionate impacts: education. Using the case of U.S. elections, this paper explores how administrative burdens interact with education to shape democratic participation. Drawing on validated voter data from the Cooperative Election Study (2008–2024) linked with the Cost of Voting Index, I show that increases in the administrative complexity of voting disproportionately deter participation among individuals with less education. By highlighting education as a critical but understudied dimension of inequality in navigating burdens, this study demonstrates how the design of onerous public policies, such as election laws, can systematically advantage some citizens over others.

Politics transformed? Electoral competition under ranked choice voting

·397 字·1 分钟
Polihot 比较政治 政治行为 Ranked Choice Voting Electoral Competition Candidate Incentives Voting Systems Preference Transfers
AJPS — 2026-03-05 Original Politics transformed? Electoral competition under ranked choice voting Peter Buisseret, Carlo Prato Abstract Abstract We compare multicandidate elections under plurality rule versus ranked choice voting (RCV). We examine a widely held presumption that RCV more effectively incentivizes candidates to pursue broad campaigns that can appeal to all voters, rather than targeting a narrow segment of the electorate. That presumption is correct when preference transfers are competitive, that is, when multiple candidates have a reasonable chance of securing voters' second‐choice support. However, when transfers are uncompetitive due to partisan, ethnic, or cultural alignments, that presumption is reversed: RCV can strengthen candidates' incentives to pursue targeted campaigns.

Partisan Expressive Responding: Lessons from Two Decades of Research

·620 字·2 分钟
Polihot 政治行为 研究方法 Partisan Expressive Responding Survey Experiments Meta-Analysis Public Opinion Partisan Bias
APSR — pp. 1-19 2026-03-03 Original Partisan Expressive Responding: Lessons from Two Decades of Research MATTHEW H. GRAHAM Abstract Research on partisan expressive responding suggests that the beliefs people express in surveys are more partisan than their underlying perceptions. This article examines the scope and importance of expressive responding through a meta-reanalysis of 44 studies from 25 articles. On average, treatments designed to reduce expressive responding shrink measured partisan bias by about 25%. Across the 242 survey questions in the data, treatments increase the correlation between the average Democrat’s and Republican’s beliefs from 0.81 to 0.86. Contrary to expectations derived from the two leading theories of expressive responding, misreporting (“cheerleading”) and congenial inference, there is no evidence that expressive responding increases in partisan identity strength or educational attainment. As research on expressive responding enters its third decade, greater emphasis on design-based tests of mechanisms may help build a firmer understanding of the nature and substantive importance of expressive responding—namely, whether the forces that produce expressive responding in surveys also shape real-world political judgments.