Hotelling's model has been used to describe differentiation in the political "market." Suppose that 100 voters are evenly distributed between the extreme left and the extreme right on the political spectrum, and that all voters vote, and they always vote for the candidate closest to them on this spectrum. The numbers on this spectrum represent the number of voters lying to the left of the number. So, at the midpoint, fifty voters lie to the left and fifty to the right. At the extreme right end, all 100 voters lie to the left. Suppose Candidate X is running against Candidate Y. If Candidate Z enters the race:
A)approximately half of the voters who were going to vote for X will now vote for Z.
B)X will win because Y and Z will be competing for the same voters.
C)all of the voters who were going to vote for Y will now vote for Z.
D)most of the voters who were going to vote for Y will now vote for Z.

Question

Hotelling's model has been used to describe differentiation in the political "market." Suppose that 100 voters are evenly distributed between the extreme left and the extreme right on the political spectrum, and that all voters vote, and they always vote for the candidate closest to them on this spectrum. The numbers on this spectrum represent the number of voters lying to the left of the number. So, at the midpoint, fifty voters lie to the left and fifty to the right. At the extreme right end, all 100 voters lie to the left.  Suppose Candidate X is running against Candidate Y. If Candidate Z enters the race:
A)approximately half of the voters who were going to vote for X will now vote for Z. 
B)X will win because Y and Z will be competing for the same voters. 
C)all of the voters who were going to vote for Y will now vote for Z. 
D)most of the voters who were going to vote for Y will now vote for Z.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

When Candidate Z enters the race, it creates a situation where two candidates (Y and Z) compete for voters at the right end of the spectrum. Since all voters vote for the candidate closest to them on the spectrum, most voters who were going to vote for Y (who is closer to the right than X) will now vote for Z (who is even closer to the right than Y). This will result in Candidate X losing some votes to Z but not as many as Y, and Z will win more votes from Y than X. Therefore, most of the voters who were going to vote for Y will now vote for Z.

Hotelling's Model Has Been Used to Describe Differentiation in the Political