Voter turnout and electoral competition in a multidimensional policy space

We analyze the interaction between electoral competition and voters' decision to vote. We show that when voters consider both the benefits and the costs of voting, politicians offer differentiated policies to motivate citizens to vote. In particular, politicians adapt their policies to the most sensitive voters-thus less sensitive voters abstain on the grounds of perceiving politicians as being too similar. In a multidimensional policy space, this implies that citizens who only care about a few issues do not vote.

Research Highlights► Political parties diverge when they consider the voters' turnout decision. ► Political parties target their policies to voters with least costs. ► Alternatively, political parties target policies to most responsive voters. ► In a multidimensional policy space, parties target voters that care about most issues. ► Voters that do not care about all issues abstain: all politicians are the same.