Articles by Andrei Gheorghita
When asked in surveys about their voting record, many respondents tend to report having gone to t... more When asked in surveys about their voting record, many respondents tend to report having gone to the polls, although they have not. The consequence is a large and significant turnout overreporting, with negative consequences upon the validity of many investigations in the field of voting behaviour. An individual’s tendency to exaggerate his/her voting record is usually the combined effect of several factors: social desirability bias, limitations of human memory, and acquiescence response bias. This article assesses the effectiveness of counter-biasing techniques in compensating for the social desirability bias and, consequently, reducing self-reported turnout. It compares the effects of three alternatives of ‘loaded’ turnout questions, providing variable information on the occurrence of non-voting behaviour (many people/around half of the people/one out of two people did not vote) and invariant face-saving response options. Self-reported turnout is compared against externally validated turnout. We employ a split-ballot survey experiment included in the 2009 Romanian Presidential Election panel study. Our analyses show that the ‘half’ counter-biasing formula is systematically more effective in reducing the social desirability bias than the alternatives, which perform rather similarly. When compared to validated turnout, it appears that, after applying the counter-biasing techniques, turnout overreporting due to social desirability remains at 5.7 to 8.6 percent.
In the contemporary political environment, the added value brought by leaders to the electoral pe... more In the contemporary political environment, the added value brought by leaders to the electoral performance of the parties appears to be significant and growing. However, the impact of leader evaluations on the vote choice is likely to vary from one voter to another. This article explores the influence of voter characteristics on the magnitude of leader effects in the context of the 2012 legislative elections in Romania. Five such characteristics are considered: objective political knowledge, subjective political information, party identification, political engagement, and time of voting decision. For this purpose, the paper employs data from the 2012 Romanian Election Studies (RES) three-wave panel survey. The analyses prove a significant influence of political knowledge and party identification and negligible effects of the other three voter characteristics considered. Thus, political knowledge appears to stimulate the manifestation of leader effects. Similarly, voters holding partisan ties appear to experience higher levels of personalization. The implications of these findings are discussed extensively.
Transnational Solidarity and Public Support for the EU Enlargement. What makes people support the... more Transnational Solidarity and Public Support for the EU Enlargement. What makes people support the European Union project has been a topic of constant research in the social sciences during the last decades. The key explanations of attitudes towards EU integration and enlargement processes are mainly related to identity issues, trust in political institutions, post-materialism, cognitive mobilization and utilitarianism. This paper revisits these explanations and adds a new ingredient to the debate, namely the role of solidarity in confining sceptical attitudes towards enlargement. We hypothesize that a deficit of transnational solidarity at the level of citizens is related to an attitude of reluctance about further EU enlargement. For this purpose, we employ a multilevel approach on individuallevel data from the European Values Study 2008 -2009 and contextual data for 42 countries. Our findings support the idea of a significant, positive relation between transnational solidarity and pro-enlargement attitudes.
This article investigates the role of thwarted voters and newcomers in setting the result of the ... more This article investigates the role of thwarted voters and newcomers in setting the result of the December 6th, 2009 presidential runoff in Romania. For this purpose it employs panel survey data from the Romanian Election Studies, collected across three waves: pre-election, between the two rounds, post-election. Initially, it draws a picture of the main evolutions in turnout and vote between the first and the second round, with a special emphasis on vote transfers and risks associated to turnout and pro-winner overreporting. Then it analyzes the thwarted voters and their rationalities of making second-order electoral choices in the presidential runoff. The influence of campaign developments and long-term party/candidate preferences is assessed. Finally, the article investigates the profile of newcomers (people only voting in the runoff) and the mechanisms of political mobilisation in their case. A special attention is given to how newcomers make the electoral choice in the presidential runoff and to the influence of the campaign developments on that choice.
Civil society has proven outstanding capacities of involvement in the 2004 general elections in R... more Civil society has proven outstanding capacities of involvement in the 2004 general elections in Romania and put a remarkable pressure on the political society. This paper aims to discuss the consequences of such involvement for both the political and civil society. We also investigate the conditions that have favoured a successful challenge of the main political actors by the most visible civic advocacy organizations. Further, we inquire how deep can an actor from the civil society go into the lands of the political society. In the end, we weight the achievements and the failures of civil society’s active involvement in the game of elections.
Book chapters by Andrei Gheorghita
Marina Costa Lobo & John Curtice (eds.), Personality Politics? The Role of Leader Evaluations in Democratic Elections, 2014
East European societies may have followed a different pathway towards the personalization of elec... more East European societies may have followed a different pathway towards the personalization of electoral politics than their Western counterparts. Several specific conditions are expected to have facilitated such an outcome during post-communism: the lack of solid party alignments, a widespread option towards semi-presidential systems, an accelerated development of media systems, and, overall, a tradition of strong leaders, with few or no constraints in the exercise of power. This chapter investigates the contribution of leader effects to the explanation of voting behaviour in the context of the 2004 Romanian national elections. It first discusses the mix of conditions (historical, cultural, institutional, and structural) that might bear a significant influence on the magnitude of leader effects in post-communist electoral politics. Then it assesses the impact of party leaders for the results of the 2004 electoral competition. Finally the chapter weights the relevance of four perceived individual traits (competence, integrity, leadership, and empathy) in shaping the overall judgments on the two main political leaders and presidential contenders, Adrian Năstase and Traian Băsescu.
Books by Andrei Gheorghita
Gabriel Bădescu, Mircea Comșa, Andrei Gheorghiță, Cristina Stănuș, and Claudiu D. Tufiș. 2010. Implicarea civică și politică a tinerilor. Constanța: Editura Dobrogea.
Andrei Gheorghiță. 2010. Lideri politici și construcția deciziei de vot. Iași: Institutul European.
Edited books by Andrei Gheorghita
Mircea Comșa, Andrei Gheorghiță, and Claudiu D. Tufiș (eds.). 2012. Alegerile prezidențiale din România, 2009. Cluj-Napoca: Presa Universitară Clujeană.
Toate drepturile rezervate. Reproducerea integrală sau parţială a textului, prin orice mijloace, ... more Toate drepturile rezervate. Reproducerea integrală sau parţială a textului, prin orice mijloace, fără acordul coordonatorilor, este interzisă şi se pedepseşte conform legii.
The first volume analyzing the 2009 elections for the European Parliament in Romania. The volume ... more The first volume analyzing the 2009 elections for the European Parliament in Romania. The volume includes chapters by Cristina Stănuș, Florin Feșnic, Adrian Sebastian Popa and Paul Thomas Weith, Paul E.Sum, and the three editors.
Reports by Andrei Gheorghita
Papers by Andrei Gheorghita
Social Change Review, 2010
Civil society has proven outstanding capacities of involvement in the 2004 general elections in R... more Civil society has proven outstanding capacities of involvement in the 2004 general elections in Romania and put a remarkable pressure on the political society. This paper aims to discuss the consequences of such involvement for both the political and civil society. We also investigate the conditions that have favoured a successful challenge of the main political actors by the most visible civic advocacy organizations. Further, we inquire how deep can an actor from the civil society go into the lands of the political society. In the end, we weight the achievements and the failures of civil society’s active involvement in the game of elections.
This volume analyzes the 2009 presidential elections in Romania. The volume includes chapters by ... more This volume analyzes the 2009 presidential elections in Romania. The volume includes chapters by Traian Rotariu, Florin Feșnic, Oana Armeanu, Bogdan Voicu, Cristina Stănuș, and the editors.
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Articles by Andrei Gheorghita
Book chapters by Andrei Gheorghita
Books by Andrei Gheorghita
Edited books by Andrei Gheorghita
Reports by Andrei Gheorghita
Papers by Andrei Gheorghita