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Story incentive: the effect of national stories on voter turnout

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2020

Shaul R. Shenhav Open the ORCID record for Shaul R. Shenhav [Opens in a new window] ,
Tamir Sheafer Open the ORCID record for Tamir Sheafer [Opens in a new window] ,
Alon Zoizner Open the ORCID record for Alon Zoizner [Opens in a new window] ,
Anita van Hoof Open the ORCID record for Anita van Hoof [Opens in a new window] ,
Jan Kleinnijenhuis Open the ORCID record for Jan Kleinnijenhuis [Opens in a new window] ,
Yael Rivkah Kaplan  and
David Nicolas Hopmann Open the ORCID record for David Nicolas Hopmann [Opens in a new window]
Shaul R. Shenhav*
Affiliation:
The Department of Political Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Tamir Sheafer
Affiliation:
The Department of Political Science and The Department of Communication and Journalism, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Alon Zoizner
Affiliation:
The Department of Political Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Anita van Hoof
Affiliation:
The Department of Communication Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Jan Kleinnijenhuis
Affiliation:
The Department of Communication Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Yael Rivkah Kaplan
Affiliation:
The Department of Political Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
David Nicolas Hopmann
Affiliation:
Centre for Journalism, Department of Political Science, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
*
*E-mail: shaul.shenhav@mail.huji.ac.il
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Abstract

This article contends that an important driver of turnout is the national stories embraced by citizens. We suggest the notion of ‘story incentive,’ whereby adopting a group’s story components – those that connect the past, the future, and prominent national characters – motivates individuals to participate in that group’s political activities. Leaning on narrative theories and studies on voter turnout, we develop and test hypotheses regarding the effect of story components on the likelihood of voting. Our measurements of story incentives are based on election surveys and encompass Denmark, Israel, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US. The results support the main story-incentive hypothesis. We discuss the theoretical ramifications of the connection between adherence to national stories and voter turnout.

Keywords

narrative theorynational storiesvoting behaviorturnout
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , May 2021 , pp. 249 - 264
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Consortium for Political Research

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