IDEOLOGY AND CANDIDATE EVALUATION

How does the expressed political ideology of voters influence their ev aluation of presidential candidates? The classic answer to this questi on is provided by the spatial theory of electoral choice in which util ity for a candidate is a function of the proximity between the voter a nd candidate positions on the liberal-conservative continuum. We have argued elsewhere that spatial theory, while intellectually appealing, is inadequate as an empirical model of mass behavior. We have develope d a directional theory of issue voting that we believe provides a more realistic accounting of how specific policy issues influence utility for a candidate. Directional theory is based on the view that for most voters issues are understood as a dichotomous choice between two alte rnative positions. While ideology is widely understood as a continuum of positions, the directional model can be applied to the relationship between ideology and candidate evaluation. In this paper we compare t he two theories using National Election Study data from 1972 to 1988. The results tend to favor the directional model over the traditional p roximity model. We conclude by briefly tracing out the implications of this finding.