The Impact of Ideology in the Voting Decision Making Process

The purpose of this research is to better understand the importance of ideology for the Portuguese voter, in particular its impact on the voting decision making process. The importance of such a study is due to a common understanding, between Political Marketing and Communication scholars, that the ideology is being replaced by other more important features, such as political brand, among others. The objective was, therefore, to understand what is the voters point of view on the subject, most importantly, to pinpoint the actual relevance of ideology from the voters’ perspective when they cast a political vote. Being that it was necessary to inquiry the voters themselves, quantitative methodology was used, in the form of a questionnaire. The research has shown that, contrary to the widespread trend between academics, the voters consider, still, the ideology as a highly important feature for them to undertake a voting decision. This study can be of benefit to political Marketers, so that used techniques can be enhanced and methods devised, in order to not only gain political campaigns but, and more importantly, the voters’ loyalty.