Bernhard Weßels, Hans Rattinger, Sigrid Roßteutscher, Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck
Voters on the Move or on the Run?

Pp. 311-317 in: Bernhard Weßels, Hans Rattinger, Sigrid Roßteutscher, Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck (Eds.): Voters on the Move or on the Run?. 2014. Oxford: Oxford University Press

This concluding chapter discusses the findings in the book against the background of the two dimensions of electoral change, namely heterogeneity and complexity. Results clearly show a structured heterogeneity that is an answer of voters to complexity of the context of voting. Voters are rather on the move looking for ways to cope with complexity than on the run away from politics. The implication for the understanding of the working of democracy is that just looking at the voters can only contribute little to the understanding of election outcomes. An integrated approach of electoral research needs to take into account the contingencies of voting behavior on political supply.