Sociotropic voting occurs when voters select a presidential candidate based on their perceptions of national economic conditions, as opposed to their own personal finances. Most political researchers believe that sociotropic voting is much more common than pocketbook voting. This means that voters gauge whether the state of the economy is improving or worsening, and they place a greater importance on the general state of affairs than they do on whether their personal financial situation has grown better or worse. There is also some evidence to suggest that women are more likely than men to evaluate general economic conditions, whereas men are somewhat more likely to make decisions based on their own pocketbooks.
See also Pocketbook Issue
Feldman, Stanley. “Economic Self-Interest and Political Behavior.” American Journal of Political Science 26, no. 3 (August 1982): 446–466.
Godbout, Jean-François, and Bélanger, Eric. “Economic Voting and Political Sophistication in the United States: A Reassessment.” Political Research Quarterly 60, no. 3 (September 2007): 541–554.
Gomez, Brad T., and Wilson, Matthew J. “Political Sophistication and Economic Voting in the American Electorate: A Theory of Heterogeneous Attribution.” American Journal of Political Science 45: 899–914.
Kinder, Donald R., and Kiewiet, Roderick D. “Sociotropic Politics: The American Case.” British Journal of Political Science 11, no. 2 (April 1981): 129–161.