ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the effects of economic evaluations on voting behavior in the 1988 American presidential election. Proper estimates of the determinants of presidential voting require a model of information processing that specifies economic evaluations and other forces operating in varying electoral contexts. The Bush organization simply seemed to realize something that Dukakis and his people never did: presidential campaigns are about choices. Candidates had to give voters reasons either to vote for them or against their opponents. The Dukakis campaign strategy had no plan to do either; Bush intended at least to give them something to vote against. Public opinion polls conducted during the 1988 presidential campaign revealed considerable volatility in candidate preferences. The context of the campaign, then, was one that should have had significant effects on how economic evaluations, mediated perceptions of economic issues, and other factors involving party identification and candidate feelings affected voting decisions.
