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Replication data for: Candidate geolocation and voter choice in the 2013 English County Council elections

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title Replication data for: Candidate geolocation and voter choice in the 2013 English County Council elections
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/25853
 
Creator Arzheimer, Kai
Evans, Jocelyn
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description The degree of 'localness' of candidates, including their residential location, has long been theorised to influence voters at election time. Individual-level tests of distance effects in the 2010 British general elections demonstrated that, controlling for standard explanations of vote, the distance from a voter's home to that of the candidate was negatively associated with the likelihood of voting for that candidate. To test this theory in a sub-national electoral context more likely to produce distance effects than a national election, this paper builds upon previous analysis by using the 2013 English County Council elections. It improves upon the previous analysis in a number of ways, analysing an election where 'localness' effects would be expected to be stronger; combining a bespoke YouGov survey of voters with more precise locational data; including UKIP candidates in its specification; and considering more closely how voters construe distance. It finds that distance does matter, not only as a linear measure but also in terms of candidates living in the same or different electoral division to voters. Finally, the paper simulates the effect of distance on candidate performances in this type of election to measure its real-world strength.
 
Subject Elections
Voters
Geolocation
England
 
Date 2014-05