Impact of Information Concerning the Popularity of Candidates on Loss-Averse Voters’ Abstention

In this study, we build a two-candidate election model, in which voters are loss averse and face uncertainty about whether their preferred candidate is supported by a majority. Even without costs for voting, abstention may occur when voters have expectations-based reference-dependent preferences, as in Kőszegi and Rabin (Q J Econ 121:1133–1165, 2006; Am Econ Rev 97:1047–1073, https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.97.4.1047, 2007). We show that loss aversion leads to the equilibrium wherein abstention occurs in a large election, and the abstention rate of voters who prefer the minority candidate is higher than that of voters who prefer the majority candidate.