| Publication |
2011.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
This article aims at unifying the theory of spatial voting and the theory that is
variously called conceptualization, information, or sophistication. Following
Downs's early insights on uncertainty as well as recent developments in both
literatures, I argue that it is of critical importance that spatial voting models
explicitly incorporate information effects. For this purpose, I develop a
heteroskedastic probit model that allows for the specification of information
heterogeneity. This model is applied to the Taiwan Election and Democratization
Study's 2004 post-presidential election survey data. In 2004, Taiwan's political
landscape was dominantly defined by the Green vs. Blue ideological cleavage,
and the candidates were perceived as taking divergent positions. This article
investigates the effects of information and activism on the spatial structure and
their implications on candidates' strategies. My findings confirm the existence
of these effects on voter uncertainty in the framework of spatial analysis.
1
|