People vote with their hearts not heads

Over half of voters know who they were going to vote for before the campaign even began.

And it was not policy that decided their votes - and it probably will not be policy that sways the rest.

When the country heads to the ballot box on September 23, most will not be voting with their heads.

Despite attempts by all parties to push evidence-based politics, experts agreed that politics was more of a battle for hearts.

Massey University professor of communication design Claire Robinson said 64 per cent of voters had made up their minds well before an election campaign.

‘‘We call them blindly loyal,’’ Robinson said.

‘‘They actually don’t look at any evidence, they just go by their gut and their experience and who they tended to vote for in the past.’’

Late-deciding voters tended to be less attached to a particular party and were swayed by appearance, headlines, pictures, slogans and - in particular - polls.

‘‘You can’t really pick who is going to be attracted to what kind of cue.’’

It was likely for this reason that the ‘‘evidence-based’’ mantra of Gareth Morgan’s The Opportunities Party (TOP) has continued to poll below 2 per cent.

Robinson sympathised with Morgan’s evidence-based plight as his party’s policies deserved wider discussion, she said.

‘‘I think it’s pretty good that they’re hanging out at 2 per cent. Voters do start rewarding parties that stick around.’’

Independent political scientist Edward Elder said evidence failed as a key consideration at the ballot box because voters were motivated by desire.

‘‘The very basic fundamentals of advertising are that decisions are made on emotions backed up by reason. Look at a car advert they drive through the mountains and the streams, then they talk about fuel efficiency,’’ Elder said.

Professor Jamin Halberstadt is part of the department of psychology at the University of Otago.

He researches cognition and emotions.

People take shortcuts in order to invest as little energy as necessary when making decisions, Halberstadt said.

‘‘People are always inclined to use cues, whether it’s emotional drivers, youth or attractiveness, or how well somebody fits,’’ Halberstadt said.