Does It Matter What You Do (Or Only Who You Are)? On the Effects of Parliamentarians' Behavior on Vote Choice
2025-11-25
Politicians differ in their policy positions, but also in their behavior in parliament and the constituency. While research has shown that personal characteristics of politicians matter for voter evaluation, we have little knowledge as to which activities inside and outside parliament have the greatest impact on voters' evaluation of their representatives. Based on survey experiments conducted in the UK, Poland, the Netherlands, France, and Belgium, we show that voters clearly reward politicians for engaged behavior, in particular time spent in the constituency. These findings carry significant implications for the type of information conveyed to voters during election campaigns.