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Voting for Democracy: Campaign Effects in Chile's Democratic Transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Taylor C. Boas
Taylor C. Boas*
Affiliation:
Boston University. tboas@bu.edu
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Abstract

In a global context in which authoritarian regimes often hold elections, defeating dictators at the polls can play a key role in transitions to democracy. When the opposition is allowed to campaign for votes in such elections, there are strong reasons to believe that its efforts will be more persuasive than those of the authoritarian incumbent. This article examines the effect of televised campaign advertising on vote choice in the 1988 plebiscite that inaugurated Chile's transition to democracy. Using matching to analyze postelectoral survey data, it shows that the advertising of the opposition's no campaign made Chileans more likely to vote against dictator Augusto Pinochet, whereas the advertising of the government's yes campaign had no discernible effect. These findings suggest that the no campaign played an important causal role in the change of political regime.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , Summer 2015 , pp. 67 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2015

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