Candidate Evaluation and Voting Decision: The Case of Taipei Mayoral Election, 1994

Volume: 

3

Number: 

1

Published date: 

December, 1998

Authors: 

Fu-ming Yin

Abstract: 

This paper tries to uncover the most significant factor determining the outcome of the Taipei Mayoral Election in 1994. The previous research has discovered that the voting decision of the electorate in Taiwan was to a large extent determined by party affiliation. In addition, the ruling KMT has gained a lions share of partisanship among the electorate. This situation did not change much in the election of 1994. This paper tries to answer how the DPPs candidate was able to win the election under this circumstance from the perspective of candidate factor. The candidate factor in elections has seldom been tackled during previous research. The argument of this paper is that candidate factor, particularly the evaluation of candidates, has surpassed the influence of party affiliation. It was the most decisive factor in voting decision among the Taipei electorate in 1994 mayoral election. It was discovered that although the balance of party attachment of Taipei electorate remained unchanged, the super evaluation on the DPPs candidate among a large proportion of the electorate helped the latter win the election.

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