Group Identification and Its Effects on Voting Behavior. Findings show that to the extent one identifies with one's ethnic group, he or she is not only more likely to vote but is also more likely to vote for a candidate the ethnic collective perceives as likely to favor said ethnicity. This conclusion was formulated by Legge (1993) based on his examination of "ethnic voting" in the New York City mayoral campaign.
Voting behavior was analyzed to test the hypothesis that when other independent variables such as party, income, and ideology are controlled, ethnic identity exerted a significant impact on candidate selection. Results indicated that ethnicity did exert a strong impact on both the decision to vote and on which candidate to vote for.
However, Legge (1993) reported that the magnitude of this influence was not the same across all ethnic groups. In this regard, the strongest coercive effects were found for African and Jewish Americans (both of which had str
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