Opening the Black Box of Voter Behavior: Role of Political Opinion Leadership and Caste

Abstract

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Elections are resource intensive and high-stake events. They are hard to finance, expensive to conduct, and remain an administrative challenge for any developing country. It is a curious situation when after all the efforts of major stakeholders, voter turnout remains low. Politicians, political parties, and regulating bodies top the list of those stakeholders who are most interested and consequently affected by such voter behavior during elections. Being part of a social group also plays an important role in raising awareness about voting and encourages voters to know more about the process, mostly for the benefit of the group at large. This study focused on the role of political opinion leadership and caste as two of the main factors that may inform voter satisfaction according to the Behavioral Reasoning Theory (BRT). The results about group association or the caste of respondents exhibited by this study remain typical of the Pakistani society. The role of political opinion leadership in informing and encouraging voters becomes important to fill the information gap and save the time of voters. Based on the data gathered from registered voters, this study revealed that political opinion leadership and caste significantly influence voter satisfaction, particularly in the context of a close-knit developing country.