The available voter

Abstract

Contemporary research on electoral volatility often focuses on those who switch party preferences, but the switching itself does not inform us about who is available for electoral competition among the parties. Making use of the party preferences of the voters of different parties, we examine voter availability (i.e., the degree of availability of the voter to the electoral competition), the degree that the voter is likely to be persuaded by the different parties. The goal of this research is to answer two main questions: What are the factors that explain voter availability on an individual level? What are the factors that explain voter availability on a country level? To answer these questions, regression analyses are employed on the individual and aggregate levels as well as in a multi-level context where both levels are considered, simultaneously.