<![CDATA[This study examines voters’ tendencies to consider direct benefits, candidate programs, candidates’ experience, and evaluations of government performance when determining their political choices in the 2024 Binjai Mayoral Election. The election was characterized by the presence of political patronage, in which political relations between candidates and voters were established not only through ideological and programmatic considerations but also through exchanges of benefits and considerations of the advantages received by voters. Therefore, this study aims to analyze political patronage as a form of voter rationality by examining how political preferences, political affiliations, candidate experience, and evaluations of incumbent performance are associated with voters’ political behavior. This study employs a quantitative approach using a survey of 1,200 respondents in Binjai City selected through multi-stage random sampling, drawing on Rational Choice Theory and the concept of selective incentives. The findings indicate that political patronage in the 2024 Binjai Mayoral Election is associated with voters’ pragmatic considerations regarding the benefits expected from candidates. This study contributes to the literature on voting behavior by demonstrating how the concept of selective incentives can be applied to explain benefit-oriented considerations in electoral behavior within the context of local politics in Indonesia.]]>
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