Does subjective well-being determine the political status quo? Analysis of voting inten-tion in Spain: 2016 & 2020.

Abstract

Since the last decade, in social sciences there has been an emerging literature analyzing the relationship between subjective well-being variables and the phenomena studied in political science. This article contributes to this incipient scientific literature, since its aim is to determine whether subjective well-being has an influence on voting intention in Spain. In order to analyze it, we use a binomial logistic regression model, taking voting intention as the dependent variable, using the 2016 and 2020 databases of the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS). The results show that satisfaction with the standard of living influences the intention to vote by those who identify themselves in the ideological center, indicating that people who are more satisfied with their standard of living would vote for the ruling party, while those who are less satisfied would vote for the opposition.