IT was Winston Churchill that said “the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter”.
But now University of Limerick (UL) has taken steps to help the electorate decide whose box to put a tick in at the polls on Friday.
And, research from UL found that many voters who used its new online tool designed to support them in making more informed decisions at the polls actually switched their initial voting preference in favour of a different candidate.
The research was conducted by Dr Rory Costello, a UL lecturer in politics and public administration and founder of WhichCandidate.ie; a voting aid application that matches users to the candidates most aligned with their views.
The WhichCandidate team, based in UL, revealed that the majority of their users who received results that strongly conflicted with their original vote intention changed their mind.
A survey exploring the impact of using a voting aid on voter choice was carried on people who used WhichCandidate during the 2024 European elections. Of the 26,100 respondents, 36 per cent changed their minds and switched their first preference on the ballot after using the site.
Dr Costello, who specialises in EU electoral and legislative politics, explained the research showed that “voters are very willing to change their minds if they find that their preferred candidate is not a good policy match. This also highlights the increasing importance that policy plays in vote choice today, particularly among younger voters who no longer have any strong party allegiances.”
