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Candidate Competition And Voter Learning In Sequential Primary Elections: Theory And Evidence, Mattias K. Polborn, George Deltas
Candidate Competition And Voter Learning In Sequential Primary Elections: Theory And Evidence, Mattias K. Polborn, George Deltas
Mattias K Polborn
We develop a model of sequential presidential primaries in which several horizontally and vertically differentiated candidates compete against each other. Voters are incompletely informed about candidate valence and learn over time from election results in previous districts. We analyze the effects of learning about candidate quality, and the effects of candidate withdrawal on the vote shares. An empirical analysis of the 2000-2008 US presidential primaries shows that the evolution of vote shares over the sequence of contests is consistent with the predictions of the theoretical model. The withdrawal of a candidate has a bigger effect on the vote shares of …