Evaluation of Political Candidates by Mexican Students from Puebla in 2019

Abstract

The result of the Mexican election that occurred in 2018 raises doubts about some elements of classical political theories, mainly the sociological approach and the Michigan model. Of the latter, there are questions regarding the role of the parties. Mexican electorate may be paying now more attention to candidates than to parties, so it was investigated which features of the former determine electoral preference. A survey was carried out taking advantage of the governor´s election in Puebla in 2019. It is a study of limited representativeness, but in the data a relevant relationship was not found between the party and the electoral preference. Instead, it was found that the candidates´ pragmatic and, above all, moral traits are related to the vote. This priority of candidates over parties seems to run counter to the Michigan model´s emphasis on the latter, but —interestingly— it does not point directly to a rational approach, even though it has consistently weighted candidates above parties. In the long run it would be productive to test these conclusions in a national election with a much larger sample.