Political Awareness and Heterogeneity in Models of Voting: Some Evidence from the British Election Studies

Voters appear to differ in both their interest in politics and ability to understand it. Formal models of voting behaviour have tended to assume, however, that the effect of any given variable is homogeneous - fixed with respect to other variables such as political knowledge. Relaxing this assumption enables an exploration of heterogeneity. It is easier to predict the attitudes of highly aware voters from knowledge of related attitudes as compared with those of less aware voters. More aware voters place greater weight on their general predispositions when deciding how to vote and in forming preferences about specific policy issues.