Active voters and pressure voters. A theoretical model of analysis

The usual model of the analyses of voting absenteeism, for any type of election, is based on the thesis that people interested in the thematic of a vote, if they are not prevented in any way, will participate to it. Absenteeism is usually explained by to a lack of interest in the subject of choice,...

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Main Author: Alfred Bulai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Facultatea de Stiinte Politice, SNSPA 2018-06-01
Series:Sfera Politicii
Subjects:
Online Access:http://revistasferapoliticii.ro/sfera/196/art02-Bulai.php
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author Alfred Bulai
author_facet Alfred Bulai
author_sort Alfred Bulai
collection DOAJ
description The usual model of the analyses of voting absenteeism, for any type of election, is based on the thesis that people interested in the thematic of a vote, if they are not prevented in any way, will participate to it. Absenteeism is usually explained by to a lack of interest in the subject of choice, sometimes accompanied by the inability to understand the nature of the alternative that is proposed, or the difficulty of assessing variants of choice. Of course, in other cases absenteeism may be linked to the presence of a protest attitude against various political themes or actions. Beyond these factors of the absenteeism, which have their own explanatory capacity, I will try to propose another type of analysis of the voting mechanism and implicitly of the absenteeism. I will take the particular case of the referendum on redefinition of the family that took place in October 2018. I will show that the explanation of the very low level of presence to vote is mainly due to the existence of a critical mass of voters whom I will call “pressure voters”. Most of them did not vote at the referendum and usually, in the case of ordinary elections they are very difficult to identify.
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spelling doaj.art-02ed4730d9254dcba01ea9594c2403da2022-12-21T22:25:52ZengFacultatea de Stiinte Politice, SNSPASfera Politicii1221-67201221-67202018-06-01XXVI196 (2)3038Active voters and pressure voters. A theoretical model of analysisAlfred Bulai0The National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, BucharestThe usual model of the analyses of voting absenteeism, for any type of election, is based on the thesis that people interested in the thematic of a vote, if they are not prevented in any way, will participate to it. Absenteeism is usually explained by to a lack of interest in the subject of choice, sometimes accompanied by the inability to understand the nature of the alternative that is proposed, or the difficulty of assessing variants of choice. Of course, in other cases absenteeism may be linked to the presence of a protest attitude against various political themes or actions. Beyond these factors of the absenteeism, which have their own explanatory capacity, I will try to propose another type of analysis of the voting mechanism and implicitly of the absenteeism. I will take the particular case of the referendum on redefinition of the family that took place in October 2018. I will show that the explanation of the very low level of presence to vote is mainly due to the existence of a critical mass of voters whom I will call “pressure voters”. Most of them did not vote at the referendum and usually, in the case of ordinary elections they are very difficult to identify.http://revistasferapoliticii.ro/sfera/196/art02-Bulai.phpactive voterspressure votersreferendumeconomic voteabsenteeismpolitical interestselectoral costs
spellingShingle Alfred Bulai
Active voters and pressure voters. A theoretical model of analysis
Sfera Politicii
active voters
pressure voters
referendum
economic vote
absenteeism
political interests
electoral costs
title Active voters and pressure voters. A theoretical model of analysis
title_full Active voters and pressure voters. A theoretical model of analysis
title_fullStr Active voters and pressure voters. A theoretical model of analysis
title_full_unstemmed Active voters and pressure voters. A theoretical model of analysis
title_short Active voters and pressure voters. A theoretical model of analysis
title_sort active voters and pressure voters a theoretical model of analysis
topic active voters
pressure voters
referendum
economic vote
absenteeism
political interests
electoral costs
url http://revistasferapoliticii.ro/sfera/196/art02-Bulai.php
work_keys_str_mv AT alfredbulai activevotersandpressurevotersatheoreticalmodelofanalysis