What You Use Still Depends On What You Have

Abstract

This article extends earlier work on the effects of information on the vote choice decision. The general model predicts that voters at higher levels of information will use more cues to vote choice and will relate them together more cohesively than those at lower levels. More specifically, those at high levels of information will be more likely to rely on issues as a determinant of their vote choices. Earlier work showed support for this hypothesis in the 1976 presidential election. The results presented here show that, although there are significant differences in how cues to vote choice are used across elections, the pattern of differences across information levels persists across the five elections between 1972 and 1988.