Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T05:40:31.105Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The 2007 French Presidential Election

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2010

Bertrand Lemennicier*
Affiliation:
University of Paris II
Hororine Lescieux-Katir*
Affiliation:
University of Paris II
Bernard Grofman*
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine
*
Bertrand Lemennicier, Department of Economics and Institut de Recherches sur la Gouvernance et l'Économie des Institutions (IRGEI), University of Paris, II, Pantheon-Assas, 1 Rue d'Ulm, Paris, France, 75231, [email protected].
Honorine Lescieux-Katir, Department of Economics and Institut de Recherches sur la Gouvernance et l'Économie des Institutions (IRGEI), University of Paris, II, Pantheon-Assas, 1 Rue d'Ulm, Paris, France, 752
Bernard Grofman, Department of Political Science and Center for the Study of Democracy, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA. 92697, [email protected].

Abstract

Abstract. We make use of a novel forecasting technique based on the Hotelling-Downs spatial framework to project vote outcomes in the second round of the two-round French presidential election system. In doing so we take advantage of the high degree of bimodality in the distribution of voter preferences to predict which candidates will make it into the second round. While our principal focus is on the 2007 election, we also look at the seven previous presidential elections in the French Fifth Republic, from 1965 through 2002.

Résumé. Pour prédire le résultat du deuxième tour de scrutin des élections présidentielles françaises de 2007, nous avons fait appel à une nouvelle technique fondée sur le modèle spatial de Hotelling-Downs. En procédant ainsi, nous avons pris en compte le haut degré de bimodalité de la distribution des préférences pour pronostiquer lequel des deux candidats remporterait la victoire. Bien que nous ayons surtout centré notre attention sur l'élection présidentielle de 2007, nous avons aussi examiné les sept élections présidentielles antérieures de la Cinquième République, tenues de 1965 à 2002, afin de tester notre méthode et prédire ex ante les résultats de 2007.

Type
Symposium: Electoral Forecasting and the 2007 French Presidential Elections
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramson, P.R. 2007. “The French Presidential Election of 2007: Was Sarkozy the Condorcet Winner?French Politics 5 (8): 287291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, J., Merrill, S. and Grofman, B.. 2005. A Unified Theory of Party Competition: A Cross-National Analysis Integrating Spatial and Behavioral Factors. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auberger, A. 2007. “Economy, Politics and Results of the French Presidential Elections.” Paper presented at LAEP Paris I, Public Choice Society World Meeting. Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Blais, Andre. 2004. “Strategic Voting in the 2002 French Presidential Election.” In The French Voter: Before and After the 2002 Elections, ed. Lewis-Beck, Michael. Houndmills UK: Palgrave Macmillian.Google Scholar
Bréchon, P. 1998. “La France Aux Urnes” Les études de la Documentation française, Paris, La Documentation Française.Google Scholar
Cox, G. W. 1997. Making Votes Count: Strategic Coordination in the World's Electoral Systems. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, A. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Hotelling, H. 1929. “Stability in Competition.” The Economic Journal 39: 4157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jérôme, Bruno and Jérôme-Speziari, Véronique 2007a. “Présidentielle: ce que prévoit la simulation des économistes.” l'Expansion, (Paris) janvier, n° 715.Google Scholar
Jérôme, Bruno and Jérôme-Speziari, Véronique 2007b. “Simulation Politico-économique de la Présidentielle de 2007.” Working Paper, IRGEI University of Paris Panthéon-Assas.Google Scholar
Lafay, J. D. 1994. “Faut-il supprimer l'election du Président de la République au suffrage universel?” Le Figaro (Paris), Cheminement du futur, 29 décembre.Google Scholar
Lafay, J. D., Facchini, F. and Auberger, A.. 2007. “Modèles politico-econométrique et prévisions electorales pour mai 2007.” Revue Française d'Economie 4 (21): 523.Google Scholar
Lee, J., Roemer, J. and Van der Straeten, K.. 2006. “Racism, Xenophobia and Redistribution.” Journal of the European Economic Association 4: 446–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemennicier, B. 2005. “Political Polarization and the French Rejection of the European Constitution.” European Journal of Political Economy 21: 1077–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemennicier, B. 2007. “How good were the forecasts of the May 2007 French presidential election?” Mini-symposium on forecasting French 2007 presidential election. IRGEI University of Paris Panthéon-Assas, May 3.Google Scholar
Lemennicier, B. and Lescieux, H.. 2007. “Peut-on Prédire le Résultat des Elections Présidentielles d'avril 2007 à Partir de la Distribution des Intentions de Votes le Long d'un Axe Politique Gauche-Droite?” Working paper, IRGEI, University of Paris II, Panthéon-Assas, March.Google Scholar
Lijphart, A. 1999. Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries. New Haven CN: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Nordhaus, W.D. 1975. “The Political Business Cycle.” Review of Economic Studies 42(4): 169–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perrineau, P., Chiche, J., Le Roux, B. and Rouanet, H.. 2000. “L'Espace politique des electeurs français à la fin des Années 1990: Nouveaux et anciens clivages, hétérogénéité des electoratsé.” Revue française de science politique 50 (3): 463–88.Google Scholar
Roemer, J. 1999. “The Democratic Political Economy of Progressive Taxation.” Econometrica 67: 119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Theil, H. 1966. Applied Economic Forecasting. Amsterdam: North-Holland.Google Scholar