ABSTRACT
Most of the research into voting behavior is carried out in the context of elections for parliaments and, particularly in the US, of an executive. These elections tend to focus on parties, and to a variable extent on individuals who will assume responsibility for policy making. Critically, voters do not start to make their choice with a blank slate. As studies from the 1950s and onwards showed, voters tend to have partisan loyalties, and these influence vote choices both directly and indirectly, by influencing the selection of and interpretation of information about the election. The variations in the rules governing referendums are potentially important. As the study of voting developed, researchers were able to use a comparative approach to demonstrate a degree of conditionality in behavior. Parties matter but issues often matter more is a general theme of referendum voting research.
