Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Voter behaviour
The media are not the only group that have influence on public opinion. Cues
can be taken from parties, elites and opinion leaders, who actively promote specific
policies to voters. Individuals use these signals to save time and effort. Rather than
attempting to master all the issues that might be important, voters can rely on
experts and political elites to help shape their opinions on matters about which they
are not well informed.
Political elites are not just politicians but also policy experts and religious
leaders, union officials and business executives, environmental campaigners and
other interest groups, and journalists. Individuals may also take cues from personal
acquaintances if they are seen as being more knowledgeable about a particular
issue. 33
As with heuristics, the use of cues is an imperfect but necessary part of
democratic engagement by ordinary citizens. For the vast majority of individuals,
participationwouldbeimpossiblewithoutit.Itcanbeareasonablysophisticated
process. Voters can take into account the source and nature of cues on a particular
issue, including how close the position taken by the source of the cue is to the
recipient’s views on other issues. 34
Beyond agenda setting and cues, the media and elites – including political
campaigns run by parties and candidates – may also use framing to influence
voters. 35 This occurs when an issue is portrayed a particular way to guide its
interpretation. Individuals will react to a choice differently, depending on how it is
presented.
Mostpoliticalissuesareheavilyframedtopersuadevoters.InAustralia,the
decision to call people arriving by boat to seek asylum ‘refugees’, ‘boat people’ or
‘illegals’ is the result of framing. The choice of words and imagery is often deliberate
– designed to evoke a particular reaction from the audience. Political actors try and
place their cause and message in a positive frame or their opponent’s in a negative
frame.
Aggregating individual preferences: studying voter behaviour
We can study voter behaviour a number of ways: through electoral results (aggregate
studies) and using public opinion surveys (individual-level studies). Both have
strengths and weaknesses.
Measuring aggregate voter behaviour
The ultimate expression of public opinion is the votes cast by citizens at elections,
referendums and plebiscites, which we can examine to understand what voters
33 Watts and Dodds 2007.
34 Gilens and Murakawa 2002.
35 Tversky and Kahneman 1981.
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