Authors

• Moring, Tom (University of Helsinki)
• Gallup Finland

Keywords

European Parliament elections, advertising, election campaigns, local government elections, political support, television advertising, voting, voting behaviour

Abstract

In the survey, Finnish voting behaviour in the 1996 municipal and European Parliament elections was studied. The survey was conducted as part of the "Changes in Finnish TV Election Campaigns" project. The respondents were first asked whether they voted in both elections. Those who had voted were asked whether they had voted in advance or on the actual election day, for whom did they vote in the European Parliament elections, how much did certain factors affect their choice of party, at what stage they had made their final decision for what party's candidate to vote, and from what information sources they received information to support their voting decision. Non-voters were asked the reason for their abstention. Election advertising was studied by asking all respondents whether they had seen advertisements of the parties or the candidates before the elections, and how would they assess election advertisements of various parties. All respondents were asked whether they had participated in any of the election campaign events of the candidates or parties/political groups, and if they were forced to vote, which party would be the least unpleasant alternative for them.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, year of birth, marital status, basic and vocational education, type of municipality of residence, province of residence, economic activity, working hours, industry of employment, employer type, trade union membership, number of household members, age of the children, household ownership of certain domestic appliances, household annual gross income, and which party R would vote for if the municipal elections were held at that time.