THE CHOICE SET APPROACH: A New Way of Studying Electoral Behavior in a Complex World.

In most countries, elections are complex events, presenting voters with an extensive choice menu. In the modeling of electoral behavior, however, much of this complexity seems to get lost. This paper outlines a novel approach to understanding vote choice that relies on ideas from consumer research. The approach is slowly gaining ground but remains on the periphery of the discipline. The paper shows the potential benefits of choice sets, outstanding methodological issues, as well as potential domains of application. It finishes by sketching potential domains of application in electoral research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]