About the theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of electoral behavior of the population

Electoral behavior is the most popular form of citizen participation in the political life of the country. This is due primarily to the fact that voting is a more traditional type of behavior of the citizen than, for example, participation in the activities of political parties, participation in demonstrations, strikes, etc. However, today electoral behavior remains one of the most little-studied areas of political sociology; there is a lack of methodological generalizations and techniques of sociological analysis. Therefore, research into issue requires thorough theoretical and methodological elaboration. The aim of the study, the results of which are presented in the article, is to analyze the main theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of electoral behavior. This study allows us to draw the following conclusions. Foreign science has developed three approaches to the study of electoral behavior: sociological, socio-psychological (party identification theory) and the theory of rational choice...