Does Party Polarization Affect the Electoral Prospects of a New Centrist Candidate?

Does party polarization affect the electoral prospects of a new centrist candidate? The paper investigates this question in the context of a laboratory experiment where a centrist candidate is added to the race between a left candidate and a right candidate. The experimental design varies the polari...

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Main Author: Arnaud Dellis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-07-01
Series:Games
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/13/4/53
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author Arnaud Dellis
author_facet Arnaud Dellis
author_sort Arnaud Dellis
collection DOAJ
description Does party polarization affect the electoral prospects of a new centrist candidate? The paper investigates this question in the context of a laboratory experiment where a centrist candidate is added to the race between a left candidate and a right candidate. The experimental design varies the polarization of the left and right candidates. The paper focuses on the effect of party polarization on the electoral prospects of a new centrist candidate through strategic voting behavior with experimental subjects acting as voters. The paper yields two main results: (1) party polarization initially improves the electoral prospects of a new centrist candidate; and (2) the effect of party polarization on the electoral prospects of the centrist weakens and ultimately disappears as elections are repeated. This happens because party polarization slows down the speed at which voters desert their candidate and vote strategically for the centrist in an apparent attempt at preventing the election of the candidate on the opposite side.
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spelling doaj.art-5da261e4645048ae9fb2061c59eb10522023-12-01T23:43:20ZengMDPI AGGames2073-43362022-07-011345310.3390/g13040053Does Party Polarization Affect the Electoral Prospects of a New Centrist Candidate?Arnaud Dellis0Department of Economics, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C3P8, CanadaDoes party polarization affect the electoral prospects of a new centrist candidate? The paper investigates this question in the context of a laboratory experiment where a centrist candidate is added to the race between a left candidate and a right candidate. The experimental design varies the polarization of the left and right candidates. The paper focuses on the effect of party polarization on the electoral prospects of a new centrist candidate through strategic voting behavior with experimental subjects acting as voters. The paper yields two main results: (1) party polarization initially improves the electoral prospects of a new centrist candidate; and (2) the effect of party polarization on the electoral prospects of the centrist weakens and ultimately disappears as elections are repeated. This happens because party polarization slows down the speed at which voters desert their candidate and vote strategically for the centrist in an apparent attempt at preventing the election of the candidate on the opposite side.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/13/4/53polarizationstrategic votingcentrist candidateplurality votinglaboratory experiment
spellingShingle Arnaud Dellis
Does Party Polarization Affect the Electoral Prospects of a New Centrist Candidate?
Games
polarization
strategic voting
centrist candidate
plurality voting
laboratory experiment
title Does Party Polarization Affect the Electoral Prospects of a New Centrist Candidate?
title_full Does Party Polarization Affect the Electoral Prospects of a New Centrist Candidate?
title_fullStr Does Party Polarization Affect the Electoral Prospects of a New Centrist Candidate?
title_full_unstemmed Does Party Polarization Affect the Electoral Prospects of a New Centrist Candidate?
title_short Does Party Polarization Affect the Electoral Prospects of a New Centrist Candidate?
title_sort does party polarization affect the electoral prospects of a new centrist candidate
topic polarization
strategic voting
centrist candidate
plurality voting
laboratory experiment
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/13/4/53
work_keys_str_mv AT arnauddellis doespartypolarizationaffecttheelectoralprospectsofanewcentristcandidate