Strategic Voting in Two-Party Legislative Elections

I study multidistrict legislative elections with two parties and two binary dimensions of policy. Strategic voters focus on the dimension where their district is most likely to be pivotal in the legislature. Anticipating this, candidates select different policies than they would in single-district elections. The final policy is (i) uniquely pinned down by voter preferences, (ii) preferred by a majority of districts on each dimension, and (iii) a Condorcet winner if one exists. These properties are not guaranteed in single-district elections. (JEL D71, D72, D81, D91)

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Publication Details

Journal
American Economic Review
Published
2025-11-26
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20220665
Primary Topic
Game Theory and Voting Systems
Type
article
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article

Strategic Voting in Two-Party Legislative Elections

Niall Hughes
American Economic Review
Game Theory and Voting Systems
article

Strategic Voting in Two-Party Legislative Elections

Niall Hughes
article en

Abstract

I study multidistrict legislative elections with two parties and two binary dimensions of policy. Strategic voters focus on the dimension where their district is most likely to be pivotal in the legislature. Anticipating this, candidates select different policies than they would in single-district elections. The final policy is (i) uniquely pinned down by voter preferences, (ii) preferred by a majority of districts on each dimension, and (iii) a Condorcet winner if one exists. These properties are not guaranteed in single-district elections. (JEL D71, D72, D81, D91)

American Economic ReviewVol. 115(12)
King's College - North Carolina (US), King's College London (GB), King's College School (GB)
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 100%
Game Theory and Voting Systems
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