Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Dynamics of Multicandidate Elections: Menu-Dependent Preferences

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Can some candidates benefit from being in contests with more than two candidates? Traditional theories of political choice assume that increasing the number of candidates in an election campaign cannot influence voter preferences. However, a growing body of literature on consumer behavior suggests that varying the menu of alternatives can influence choices in systematic ways. This Doctoral Dissertation Research Support project tests whether these findings apply to collective choices and electoral politics. The student hypotheses that the menu of available options can influence a voter's decision. When there are more than two candidates in the race, a compromise effect benefits moderate candidates. Consequently, when there are more than two candidates, race and party influence how voters evaluate candidates differently than when there are only two candidates divided by party label and/or by the candidate's race. The student focuses on how perceptions of the alternatives and affect towards the candidates are affected by the set of alternatives. The hypothesis is tested by collecting experimental data from subjects in different choice situations with a varying menu of alternatives.This interesting and innovative project promises to enhance our understanding of the topic.