Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/81531 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IFN Working Paper No. 802
Publisher: 
Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm
Abstract: 
Cognitive dissonance theory predicts that the act of voting makes people more positive toward the party or candidate they have voted for. Following Mullainathan and Washington (2009), I test this prediction by using exogenous variation in turnout provided by the voting age restriction. I improve on previous studies by investigating political attitudes, measured just before elections, when they are highly predictive of voting. In contrast to earlier studies I find no effect of voting on political attitudes. This result holds for a variety of political attitudes and for both Sweden and the United States.
Subjects: 
Cognitive Dissonance
Voting
Elections
Political Attitudes
JEL: 
B59
C21
D72
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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