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Abstract: While government support is often a function of its economic record, this is not always the case. We look at the forces that lead some citizens to focus on economic issues while other citizens are more interested in foreign policy, corruption, social policy, or some other issue. Data compiled from 32 countries participating in the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) project demonstrate that while the economy is generally viewed as important, the economy's place on the issue agenda varies across individuals and also electoral contexts. If the economy is not perceived as important, its effect on government approval is strongly mitigated. Our data suggest that the economy is more likely to dominate other issue concerns when the economy is in a recession, in countries with volatile economies, if the citizen in unemployed, or if the citizen is economically vulnerable. Governance crises related to corruption and human rights reduce attention to the economy, though we do not find clear evidence that terrorist attacks or participation in wars do the same. Thus variations in the economy's salience need to be further incorporated into studies of economic voting. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose that voters consider not only whether the absolute state of the economy has improved under an incumbent, but also include the distribution of economic benefits as an important basis for evaluating the competence of incumbent policy-makers. The extant literature on economic voting has largely only focused on questions of growth, unemployment, and inflation, but has overlooked how voter perceptions of inequality shape voter choices. In this paper, we outline the rationale for including changes in the distribution of wealth into voter evaluations of incumbents. We then model incumbent approval as a function of differences in voters' perceptions of levels of income inequality after controlling for known economic and social determinants of voting, using survey data collected in Argentina and Mexico. In both cases, voters were more likely to support incumbent presidents if when they perceived that economic inequality was diminishing. These preliminary results confirm that perceived inequalities are politically consequential. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]