Social Class and Voting:The Presidential Election in 2008

When talking to the major division in Taiwan’s politics, people always think about the ethnicity, national identity, or unification / independence attitude. Discussion of social class and voting has been hotly discussed for a long time in the west. Sometimes social class is a strong predictor of voting behavior. However, people seldom study the connection between one’s class position and one’s voting choice here in Taiwan. Since Taiwan has experienced the similar mode of modernization and democratization with western democracies, the shape of class structure alters and can account for variations in voters’ voting choice. The main focus of this thesis is to examine the relationship between voter’s class position and his/her voting choice, and further examine the actual political influence of social class in Taiwan, in particular with respect to voters’ voting behaviors.
The idea of class voting refers to the tendency for voters in a particular class to vote for a specific political party, political candidate, or groupings, rather than an alternative option, compared with another class or classes. The paper examines linkages by using questionnaires from Asian Barometer, released in 2011. Analysis of the data obtained previously produces a number of interesting findings. First, the social class is becoming increasingly important in 2008 presidential election. The upper class is inclined to vote for Pan-Blue whereas the lower class shows a preference of voting for Pan-Green. Voters’ class locations in capitalists and middle class are inclined to support pan-blue parties; in contrast, voters from working class and farmer have a tendency to vote for pan-green parties.
Second, to examine the real role social class plays in politics, the paper uses the idea of relative deprivation. Here the paper proposed that one’s feeling of relative deprivation and class interests would integrate with each other and lead him/her to vote for a specific party. While controlling other control variables, social class as an explanatory variable had a significant impact on voting choice. Furthermore, we found that the feeling of relative deprivation had an interaction effect with class position that actually influence one’s voting choice, especially for voters in middle class. For middle class voters, the higher level of relative deprivation they have, they may have little inclination to vote for pan-blue party; instead, the higher possibility for them to vote for the pan-green party.