Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/146628 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
WZB Discussion Paper No. SP II 2016-206
Publisher: 
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB), Berlin
Abstract: 
We use laboratory experiments to test for one of the foundations of the rational voter paradigm - that voters respond to probabilities of being pivotal. We exploit a setup that entails stark theoretical effects of information concerning the preference distribution (as revealed through polls) on costly participation decisions. We find that voting propensity increases systematically with subjects' predictions of their preferred alternative's advantage. Consequently, pre-election polls do not exhibit the detrimental welfare effects that extant theoretical work predicts. They lead to more participation by the expected majority and generate more landslide elections.
Subjects: 
Collective Choice
Polls
Strategic Voting
JEL: 
C92
D02
D72
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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