Indifferents as an interface between Contra and Pro

TL;DR

This paper explores the role of indifferent voters in sociophysical models of public opinion, extending traditional two-opinion models to include neutrality and analyzing their effects through simulations.

Contribution

It introduces models incorporating indifferent voters into opinion dynamics, comparing Sznajd and voter models, and examines how network topology influences outcomes.

Findings

Sznajd model results align with mean field predictions.

Network topology affects the number of Contra voters remaining.

Indifferent voters significantly impact opinion dynamics.

Abstract

In most sociophysical simulations on public opinion, only two opinions are allowed: Pro and Contra. However, in all political elections many people do not vote. Here we analyse two models of dynamics of public opinion, taking into account Indifferent voters: {\it i)} the Sznajd model with symmetry Pro-Contra, {\it ii)} the outflow one move voter model, where Contra's are converted to Indifferent by their Pro neighbours. Our results on the Sznajd model are in an overall agreement with the results of the mean field approach and with those known from the initial model formulation. The simulation on the voter model shows that an amount of Contra's who remain after convertion depends on the network topology.