From Life Space to Polling Place: The Relevance of Personal Concerns for Voting Behavior

TLDR

Daily personal problems are pervasive and may shape political choices, but how they translate into voting behavior remains unclear. This paper investigates which personal problems are perceived as political, whether they influence voting only when framed politically, and how they become translated into electoral decisions.

Abstract

To live is to have problems. However the country as a whole fares, the individual has bills to pay, work to do, children to worry about – to mention only a few of the commonplace problems that people face in their daily lives. Commonplace or not, these are problems that people must wrestle with. They are immediate, inescapable, and serious, far more so for most than the ‘large’ issues facing the country. Students of voting have long suspected that such problems may influence political choices, but key questions remain unanswered. Which personal problems are taken to be political and which non-political? Do personal problems have an impact on voting behavior only if they are taken to be political? When and how do personal problems become translated into political choices? In this paper we shall address such questions as these.