This study evaluates the link between economic voting and electoral behavior in the 2024 European Parliament (EP) elections. This study is grounded in both selective perception and economic voting theories, examining how different independent factors could interact with electoral behavior. In this regard, the research aims to achieve several research directions: (i) the evaluation of the statistical differences in voters’ turnout in 2024 EP elections by geographical regions; (ii) the analysis of the interaction between voters’ perceptions of the current or future economic situations and voter turnout; (iii) the analysis of the interaction between objective economic conditions and electoral behavior. Using both multiple linear regression and logistic models, the study highlights that voter turnout and incumbent party reelection are significantly related to voters’ perceptions of the current or future state of the national economy. The results reveal that regional differences in voter turnout are largely explained by significant differences in voters’ economic perceptions, while the decision to vote for the incumbent party is driven by future economic expectations. The empirical findings underscore the pivotal role played by subjective perceptions in shaping electoral behavior, illustrating that political attitudes and behaviors are derived from personal interpretation of the national economic situations. Beyond theoretical perspectives that highlight the link between psychological processes and voting, the paper might have several practical implications for academics or decision makers interested in the field of electoral behavior.

This study aims to evaluate the complex relationship between online media consumption, the quality of the digital landscape, and participatory democracy in EU member states. The research is focused on a long-term statistical series from 2000 to 2024. It evaluates the temporal dynamics and structural shifts in media consumption and democratic participation across EU member states. The paper evaluates the influence of social media usage, online media consumption, traditional media, and online media partisanship on different levels of democratic participation based on theoretical frameworks of liberal and deliberative democracy and networked political communication. The results show that the use of social media for offline political networks is positively associated with democratic participation across all quantiles. In contrast, online media consumption has a more pronounced impact among already active citizens. Online media bias is negatively correlated with participatory democracy, especially at high levels, suggesting that media partisanship could inhibit or demotivate civic participation. Traditional media, when consumed critically, remains an important vector of democratic engagement, especially for active citizens. The results exhibit the ambivalent role played by online media, which might stimulate or constrain democratic participation by the level of partisanship.

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The study assesses cross-national differences in individuals’ happiness using aggregated data from 138 countries from 2013 to 2023. To capture structural patterns and significant differences, our analysis is based on long-term averages of economic development, inequality, life expectancy, social networks, interpersonal relations, civic and social participation, and the natural environment. The results confirmed that economic development and interpersonal relations are significant variables, correlated to an increased level of well-being. Happiness cannot be analyzed in isolation from these independent factors. Conditional quantile regression results show that economic development (β = 0.295–0.484–0.48, p < 0.001) and interpersonal relations (β = 0.019–0.020, p ≤ 0.001) are consistently associated with higher levels of happiness across the conditional distribution of the Happiness Index. Life expectancy shows no significant association at any quantile. The interaction between economic development and interpersonal relations is positive and statistically significant across all three conditional quantiles (τ = 0.25, 0.50, 0.75; p ≤ 0.01), highlighting that these two dimensions reinforce one another throughout the distribution of happiness. Happiness is a complex dimension of human well-being that might be explained using a combined material and post-material perspective. The findings underscore the multidimensional nature of happiness and support integrating economic conditions and post-material dimensions when analyzing cross-national subjective well-being.