Bandwagon voting or false-consensus effect in voting experiments? : First results and methodological limits

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Date
2008Author
Bischoff, Ivo
Egbert, Henrik
Quotable link
http://dx.doi.org/10.22029/jlupub-5800Abstract
In an experiment designed to test for expressive voting, Tyran (JPubEc 2004) found a strong positive correlation between the participants approval for a proposal to donate money for charity and their expected approval rate for fellow voters. This phenomenon can be due to bandwagon voting or a false consensus effect. The social science literature ... reports both effects for voting decisions. Replicating Tyran's experiment and adding new treatments, we provide evidence for a false consensus effect but find no support for bandwagon voting.