Why do voters choose corrupt candidates? The role of ideology on cognitive mechanisms

Abstract

There is evidence that people vote for corrupt candidates even when they have information that their representatives have been engaged in corruption in the past. Based on a survey experiment in Brazil, we find evidence that ideology is an important factor to explain this voting behavior. We also found evidence of two psychological mechanisms that explain this effect: a change in perception of corruption and a cognitive cost-benefit evaluation. This study expanded previous findings, showing that ideology can affect voting behavior when there is information about corruption even in a country where voters are supposedly less loyal to a single party.