Where Did Electoral Accountability Fail? MP Misconduct, Constituent Perceptions and Vote Choice

Abstract

Many voters know little about their MPs, so we would not expect many constituents to have known whether their MP was involved in the expenses scandal or not. Yet, we show evidence from the British Election Study (BES) internet panel that, in general, voters’ perceptions of their MP’s behaviour did correspond, at least somewhat, to their actual involvement in the scandal. Nevertheless, it is also the case that almost half of voters did not know whether their MP was involved in the scandal, and perceptions were also biased by political predispositions. Moreover, voters did not punish their MPs for their perceived misconduct: the link between perceptions and vote choice was weak compared to that between publicly available information and perceptions.