Electorate Voting Behavior in Taipei City under Three Party Competition: a Study of the 1998 Taipei Mayoral Election

Nai-teh Wu, research fellows from Academia Sinica, Dr. Jih-wen Lin, an assistant research fellow from Academia Sinica, Prof. Yung-tai Hung, Director of the Election Study Center at National Chengchi University, associate Prof.

Shung-lian Liang from the Department of Public Policy and Administration at National Chi-Nan University, and Prof. Ying-lung You from the Department of Political Science at Soochow University also assisted on the project. This project is an empirical study, and its main purpose is to develop a better general understanding of voter behavior and the relationship between the political system and electoral behavior.

Our survey research covered several different but related topics. Beginning, we investigated the relationship between the social background of voters (including class characteristics and group identity) and their party affiliations. We also probed into the origins of party preference, including the role of party images and strong party identity in determining preferences.

Furthermore, aspects of general political attitudes, as well as political culture are incorporated in this study. Following, we investigated the evaluation of Taipei City Mayor Cheng Shui-bian and the electorate\'s different patterns of political participation. Next, this research project incorporates a block on ethnic identification.

This was accomplished by measuring the extent to which voters identified with either \'Taiwanese\' or \'Chinese\' ethnicity. Furthermore we obtened the measures of each candidate\'s personal characteristics, and investigate voters\' strategic voting behavior. The phenomenon of the \'Lee Teng-hui Complex\' was another topic under investigation; by using different models of voting behavior, this research is analysing and quantifying whether the impact of the \'Lee Teng-hui Complex\' on voting behavior still exists.

In a next step this research collects data on the reasons of the electorate to vote at all. Furthermore we obtained data about the voters\' perception of the voting process per se and his/her degree of content with the election result. In a following section, this research is as well investigating in past elections in order to compare and being able to define changes in voters\' behavior over time.

Next we examined national identity, thereby we investigated the voters stands on questions of Taiwan\'s Independence and Unification with Mainland China, we inquired deeper into the mutual relationship between a Taiwan-, and China-Identity, and investigated the consequences for the voting behavior. In a final section this research collects general information about the respondents\' income and employment. The sample for this research was taken from the population of the electorate of Taipei City (min. 20 years of age and with the right to vote).

We utilized the method of systematic sampling. We designed our questionnaire using both structured and open-ended questions. The questionnaire asked voters questions regarding their views on the political positions of the candidates, their opinions towards issues of independence and unification, and the reasons why some voters cast invalid ballots.