The results of the study showed that voting after receiving a large amount of money suddenly led to more voting based on self-interest. The researchers also found that more money meant a larger increase in right-wing views, and that men were more affected than women.
The study was a collaboration between economists from University of Warwick and the University of Melbourne. The researchers examined those who won in the UK lottery up to £200,000 ($326,000).
The data came from the British Household Pane l Survey, which provided a representative sample size. The Survey allowed the researchers to examine political affiliations a year before people voted, and afterward.
The data showed that 18 percent of people of people who won £500 or more switched to voting for the Conservative party (as opposed to the Labour Party, which is more left-leaning), as opposed to 13 percent of people who either didn’t win that much or didn’t play the lottery. In total, as the Daily Mail reports, 45 percent of people who won £500 said they voted conservative.
It led to a simple conclusion: “After a lottery win, people lean rightwards.”
One potential flaw in the study is that it couldn’t account for personalities — some of the voters surveyed could have already been self-interested before they received their lottery prize. As well, it couldn’t explain why men are more affected by sudden wealth, though on average men tended to win more than women.
