ABSTRACT
Dating back to the seminal The American Voter (Campbell et al. 1960) the pinnacle of the study of voting behaviour has always been the post-election voter survey. Shortly after an election a random sample of eligible voters are asked a wide range of questions on demographics, attitudes, recall of voting behaviour, political knowledge, self-evaluations of efficacy and influence, and so on. Cross-sectional surveys of this nature have resulted in a voluminous body of theory and findings that provide insights into the behaviour of voters in elections and referendums (for a review, see Dalton and Klingemann 2007). A number of the chapters in this volume add to the research based on such election surveys, for instance the chapters describing generational effects in Irish voting behaviour (Quinlan), different identities in a multilevel polity (Heath and Spreckelsen), and different tendencies of voters to vote on the basis of the (local) candidate as opposed to the party or national leader (Marsh and Schwirz; Thomsen and Suiter).
