Prominence Perceptions as a Heuristic in Contexts of Low Information

TL;DR

This paper investigates how perceived candidate prominence influences voter heuristics in low-information elections, focusing on political and social media visibility as key factors affecting voter interest and perceptions.

Contribution

It introduces a dual-dimensional model of candidate prominence and provides experimental evidence on how these dimensions serve as heuristics for voters in low-information contexts.

Findings

Political and public prominence influence voter interest differently.

Voters' characteristics condition the heuristic effects.

Experimental evidence supports prominence as a heuristic mechanism.

Abstract

This study explores the concept of prominence as a candidate trait, understood as the perceived worthiness of attention candidates elicit from regular citizens in the context of low information elections. It proposes two dimensions of candidate prominence, political and public, operationalized as having held high visibility roles within the party and having social influence through social media presence. Employing a conjoint analysis experimental design, the study tests whether political and public prominence serve as heuristic mechanisms in low-information electoral settings by estimating conditional effects on respondents' self-assessed interest in politics, educational level and self-assessed ideological placement. The results contribute experimental evidence to support the hypothesis of differential heuristic choices by voters based on varying levels of perceived public and political prominence, conditional on voters' characteristics.