It's the Occupation, Stupid! Explaining Candidates' Success in Low-Information Elections

34 Pages Posted: 5 Oct 2011

See all articles by Mario Mechtel

Mario Mechtel

Leuphana University of Lueneburg

Date Written: October 5, 2011

Abstract

Do voters use ballot paper information on the personal characteristics of political candidates as cues in low-information elections? Using a unique dataset containing 4423 political candidates from recent local elections in Germany, we show that candidates' occupations do play a decisive role in their electoral success. The occupational impact is far greater than gender or doctoral degree effects for a large number of occupations. We discuss two possible explanations for these 'occupational effects': an occupation's public reputation and the extent to which individuals carrying out certain occupations are known within their communities. Looking at polls on the reputation/prestige of certain jobs, we find a strong correlation between an occupation's reputation and the electoral success of a candidate carrying out this occupation. Therefore, voters appear to use occupational reputation as a cue in low-information elections.

Keywords: low-information elections, informational cues, local elections, occupational reputation, political economy

JEL Classification: D72, D7

Suggested Citation

Mechtel, Mario, It's the Occupation, Stupid! Explaining Candidates' Success in Low-Information Elections (October 5, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1938955 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1938955

Mario Mechtel (Contact Author)

Leuphana University of Lueneburg ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://www.mario-mechtel.de

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