The ‘mean voter theorem’ implies that candidates should choose identical policy positions in a two-candidate race if voting is probabilistic. This result is in fact an artifact of the assumption that the candidates maximize expected vote share or probability of win, which is not...

A spatial model of voting in parliamentary elections is estimated by using survey data from The Netherlands, Great Brit-ain, and Israel. It is shown that more educated voters put more weight on the parties’ political programs. The choice of less educated voters depends primarily on their...

n this work factor analysis is used to obtain a two-dimensional map of ideological preferences of the Russian elec-torate. It is shown that Moscow is the most polarized region with respect to ideological preferences. A spatial model of voting, based on the assumption that the voter’s utility...

We propose a generalization of the probabilistic voting model in two-candidate elections. We allow the candidates have general von Neumann–Morgenstern utility functions defined over the voting outcomes. We show that the candidates will choose identical policy positions only if the electoral...