Institute of Governmental Studies

Researchers have long viewed ballot cues as key factors in vote choice unrelated to a pure evaluation of a candidate’s merits. In this study, I investigate the role of ballot occupation— that is, the title often included with a candidate’s name on a ballot. Ballot occupation is more malleable by candidates than other cues, like ethnicity or ballot order, and could be manipulated to produce an electoral benefit. I evaluated a difference in occupation preference between respondents of the two major United States political parties. I conducted an Internet- based survey of 610 individuals, varying the cues presented—occupation, party, or both. The results suggest that listing occupations historically and logically associated with one of the political parties has an effect similar to, but weaker than, the effect of listing the corresponding party. Further, when both a party and an occupation inconsistent with that party are listed (e.g., a “Republican college professor”), the results most clearly reflect those of the party-only group (but are somewhat weaker). This suggests that ballot occupation can act as a proxy for the candidate’s political party when no party information is provided, but that occupation has nearly no effect when a party is listed.