Effects of Party Brand Image on Voter Choice: Empirical Evidence from Ghana

Abstract

The study sets out to examine the effect of party brand image on voter choice when other determinants are held constant drawing empirical evidence from Ghana. The study builds on earlier works on determinants of electoral behaviour such as social cleavage voting (Lazarsfeld et al., 1944), party identification voting (Campbell et al., 1960), and issue ownership voting (Down, 1957). The study departs from these traditional schools and seeks to validate the claim that party brand image has a significant influence on voter choice as an alternative. The paper employed Bosch et al. (2006a) party brand image framework to deconstruct political party brand image insights in democracies. To estimate this, a multiple logistic regression analysis was performed. The results of the analysis established that there is no sufficient evidence to conceptually support the model when the party brand image was assigned to both the NDC and NPP in a cross-sectional survey. The results show only three statistically significant predictors (experience, expectation, and uniqueness) of the model. Also, when the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents (cleavage voting), party identification, and issue voting variables were introduced into the model to control for the effect of party brand image on voter choice, the results do not strongly support the hypothesis. This is because the coefficients of the variables in the model practically remain unchanged. The key conclusion is that there is not enough evidence to conceptually support the model, and empirically validate the null hypothesis stated for the study. While party brand image may not be the dominant factor in voter choice in Ghana, parties can still leverage experience, expectation, and uniqueness to enhance their appeal. However, the socioeconomic cleavages, strengthening party identification, and focusing on issue ownership should remain critical strategies for electoral success in Ghana.