“Intención de voto y la evaluación de los candidatos: los jóvenes mexicanos en 2018

Abstract

For years, the theory of modernization was the main explanation of voter turnout in México, but this theory has had important theoretical and empirical reverses, which led researchers to look for new explanations, among them is the possibility that citizens vote less because they do not find acceptable candidates in either a pragmatic (professional/work experience) or moral evaluation, but there is no empirical evidence of this and the international evidence is not conclusive either. Little before the Mexican 2018 election, a survey was made to test this hypothesis, finding that even controlling a couple of factors (partisan attachment and belief that one should vote even if all candidates are bad), the poor evaluation of candidates is relates to abstentionism. It was also found that the moral component of the evaluation has a stronger relationship than other aspects such as the academic and professional career of the candidate. Finally, the relationship found seems to fluctuate between cities, there seems to be regions where the weight of the moral prevails, while in others the professional and academic aspect determines more of the voter turnout.