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The political marketing literature likens voters to consumers. It suggests some commonalities between consumers and voters such as their emotions, thought processes, and behavioural responses to marketing stimuli. What is yet to be examined is whether or not the voter decision-making process can also be likened to the consumer purchase decision-making process in a commercial setting. Thus, this study sought to examine Ghanaian voters' decision-making process using a consumer decision-making model (The EKB model). A cross-sectional survey was carried out involving 500 respondents drawn from the Greater Accra, Bono and Central regions of Ghana. Hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings indicate that all the five variables of the model-voter needs, information seeking, availability of alternatives, reference groups, and performance of candidates/party have a significant positive influence on voter decision making leading to voting choices. The application of the EKB model to examine the voter decision-making process adds fresh knowledge to the existing literature on political marketing and consumer behaviour.

Research on invalid voting has expanded rapidly over the past few years. This review article for the first time examines its principal findings and provides a new theoretical perspective on the origins of invalid votes based on a two-dimensional framework. The main results of 54 studies using both individual-level and aggregate-level data as well as the results of experimental and qualitative studies are analysed. The meta-analysis of all existing aggregate-level studies finds that compulsory voting, quality of democracy, fragmentation and closeness of the electoral race play important roles in explaining invalid voting. On the other hand, the research is accompanied by many theoretical and empirical contradictions that hamper the accumulation of knowledge in this field. We therefore conclude by suggesting the challenges for future research.

The present study concentrates predominantly on the statement that the voter is influenced by and consumes the political communication marketing formed through political structures, content which is partially created based on the political matters of a country. Consequently, this study is founded upon the point that voting actions reflect what kind of content voters consume; therefore, the elector is the potential customer of the “electoral marketplace”. Accordingly, the primary goal of this study is to explain the effect that the political marketing of various parties might have on voters’ behaviour. Correspondingly, we introduce the framework of the planned research; identify the vital research principles; and clarify the intentions of the study and the required theoretical background, together with the data gathering and analysis methods used at this stage for the implementation of the envisaged project. In this context, primary research has been conducted quantitatively, the conclusions of which confirm the presence of the relationship outlined above. In conclusion, this research demonstrates that there is a certain correlation between broader political marketing and electoral perceptions. According to the survey results, we conclude that there is a positive linear correlation between the values of all four elements of the marketing mix, which is statistically significant. We found that there are three different levels of correlation between the pairs of the political marketing mix. Accordingly, it appears that there is a stronger correlation between Price and Product and between Place and Promotion, respectively, while there is a slightly weaker correlation between Place and Product and Promotion and Product. At the same time, there is an even weaker but still positive and statistically significant correlation between Promotion and Price and Price and Place, respectively. In addition, “Promotion” falls behind the rest of the elements of political marketing, a fact that partially confirms the given picture with regard to political marketing and considers “Promotion”, and thus the actual political/pre-election campaign, to be less influential compared to other components of the political marketing mix (Product, Place, and Price), which, according to the specific results, appear to influence, indirectly but more strongly, the voting choices of Cypriots.

This study explores the complexities of voter behaviour in the South-East region of Nigeria, examining the influences of socio-economic conditions, violence and electoral irregularities on voter participation. Through qualitative analysis of interview responses, it identifies critical factors that inhibit electoral engagement, such as poverty, insecurity and electoral malpractice. The study employs the Sustainable Voters’ Education (SVE) model to underscore the importance of comprehensive voter education in transforming voter behaviour and promoting regime stability. The model highlights key elements like awareness creation and ideological consistency, suggesting that an informed electorate can enhance political participation and support democratic institutions. Findings reveal significant voter apathy due to disenfranchisement and insecurity, impacting the South-East’s representation in national politics. The study recommends targeted policy interventions to address these challenges, emphasizing the need for transparent electoral processes, robust voter education programs and socio-economic improvements. Future research should investigate the effectiveness of digital voter education tools and the broader applicability of the SVE model across different regions. The study contributes to the discourse on electoral behaviour, offering insights into improving democratic governance through strategic voter education and policy reforms.

What factors accounted for the humiliating defeat and decisive victory of the NPP and NDC respectively in the 2024 elections in Ghana? Deploying the functional theory of political campaign discourse and voter behaviour theories hinged on qualitative research and content analysis, the paper argues that the NPP lost the 2024 elections on two grounds: first was the absence of a clear policy to differentiate it from the NDC, and second was the character deficit of the party and its presidential candidate. Both the party and its presidential candidate were perceived as dishonest and unprincipled as against the NDC and its presidential candidate. Furthermore, the NPP failed to own and defend their policy proposals and achievements in government. They rather resorted to attacks which failed, leading to overwhelming voter rejection. The paper recommends that political parties should have workable and achievable policies and should also embrace the politics of honesty to have the trust of the electorate. Also, stakeholders should adequately prepare through capacity building and vigilance in the electoral process to ensure electoral integrity and democratic maturity.

Access to information about candidates' performance has long stood as a key factor shaping voter behaviour, but establishing how it impacts behaviour in real-world settings has remained challenging. In the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections, unpredictable technical glitches caused by the implementation of biometrics as a form of identification led some voters to cast ballots after official tallies started being announced. In addition to providing a source of exogenous variation of information exposure, run-off elections also enable us to distinguish between different mechanisms underlying the impact of information exposure. We find strong support for a vote-switching bandwagon effect: information exposure motivates voters to abandon losing candidates and switch support for the frontrunner – a finding that stands in the second round, when only two candidates compete against each other. These findings provide theoretical nuance and stronger empirical support for the mechanisms underpinning the impact of information exposure on voter behaviour.

This paper examined the integrity, impact and good governance value of election prophecies (EPs) in the last 20 years in selected African countries juxtaposed with President Donald Trump's EPs in America. As a primary source, empirical research was conducted alongside a historical survey. The data collected from 519 respondents revealed that a majority believe in prophecies, but they queried the integrity, impact and value of EPs due to the inconsistency, inaccuracy, confusion and unhealthy public panics engendered. Despite the adverse effects, many adherents still subscribe to the phenomenon due to the psychological and emotional influence. Subsequently, this article critiqued the research outcome through Biblical Theology. It held that EPs remain vital in the public life of nations, but the current approach in Africa needs some review. These include: (1) the need to revisit the tasks of prophets as Hope givers, Reformers and those who speak truth to power in pre- and post-election seasons; (2) the scrutiny of EPs by the plurality of Prophets, ecumenical leaders and the public, with the four suggested evaluation indices; and (3) the need to curb the negative effect of EPs on healthy electoral processes using enacted public account policies. Contribution This article contributes to an interdisciplinary religious aspect of research covering Biblical theology, psephology and politics.

We investigate the impact of globalization on electoral outcomes in 15 Western European countries over 1988–2007. We employ both official election results at the district level and individual-level voting data, combined with party ideology scores from the Comparative Manifesto Project. We compute a region-specific measure of exposure to Chinese imports, based on the historical industry specialization of each region. To identify the causal impact of the import shock, we instrument imports to Europe using Chinese imports to the United States. At the district level, a stronger import shock leads to (1) an increase in support for nationalist and isolationist parties, (2) an increase in support for radical-right parties, and (3) a general shift to the right in the electorate. These results are confirmed by the analysis of individual-level vote choices. In addition, we find evidence that voters respond to the shock in a sociotropic way.

Difference-in-differences (DID) is commonly used for causal inference in time-series cross-sectional data. It requires the assumption that the average outcomes of treated and control units would have followed parallel paths in the absence of treatment. In this paper, we propose a method that not only relaxes this often-violated assumption, but also unifies the synthetic control method (Abadie, Diamond, and Hainmueller 2010) with linear fixed effects models under a simple framework, of which DID is a special case. It imputes counterfactuals for each treated unit using control group information based on a linear interactive fixed effects model that incorporates unit-specific intercepts interacted with time-varying coefficients. This method has several advantages. First, it allows the treatment to be correlated with unobserved unit and time heterogeneities under reasonable modeling assumptions. Second, it generalizes the synthetic control method to the case of multiple treated units and variable treatment periods, and improves efficiency and interpretability. Third, with a built-in cross-validation procedure, it avoids specification searches and thus is easy to implement. An empirical example of Election Day Registration and voter turnout in the United States is provided.