THE BERRELSON PARADOX RECONSIDERED INTENTION-BEHAVIOUR CHANGERS IN U.S. AND SWEDISH ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

The Berelson paradox is that in democracies, the aggregate requirementfor adaptability is provided by the least qualified voters,i.e., volatile voters tend to be less knowledgeable and lessinvolved in politics. Analysis of data from ten U.S. and sevenSwedisg national election studies pointed to a significant interactioneffect. The early findings regarding interest and knowledgewere consisitently replicated in the U.S., but not in Sweden.In Sweden, intention-behaviour changers were not likely to below in intest or knowledge, and interested nonpartisans wereoverrepresented among the intention-behaviour changers.