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Ambivalent Voting Behavior: Ideology, Efficacy, and the Socioeconomic Dynamic of Voter Turnout in Iran, 1997–2005
Author(s) -
Daghagheleh Aghil
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
sociological forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1573-7861
pISSN - 0884-8971
DOI - 10.1111/socf.12459
Subject(s) - voting , socioeconomic status , turnout , authoritarianism , voting behavior , demographic economics , democracy , political science , context (archaeology) , survey data collection , ideology , ranked voting system , ethnic group , feeling , social psychology , sociology , political economy , economics , psychology , politics , demography , geography , population , law , statistics , mathematics , archaeology
This study investigates voting behavior in Iran as a case of electoral authoritarianism. In analyzing survey data from the Iranian Academic Center for Education, Culture, and Research ( ACECR ), I examine the socioeconomic dynamic of voting as well as the effects of sociopolitical views on voting in Iran. In contrast to theories that predict a higher turnout rate among the poor in authoritarian regimes, I show that the socioeconomic dynamic of voting in Iran varies across years and elections. This inconsistency, I propose, may reflect the ambivalent feelings of a fraction of voters toward the election that depends on the context of elections, and electoral campaigning produces various patterns of voting across socioeconomic status and the religious or ethnic background. I found that there is a strong association between sociopolitical views and turnout. In all elections, dissatisfied voters were more likely to stay home on Election Day. Voting behavior also is shaped by respondents' source of income as well as their attitudes toward democratic elections, the state ideology, and the efficacy of voting.