Jonathan Polk
Professor
Party responsiveness to public opinion in a multi-dimensional policy space
Author
Summary, in English
Party responsiveness to public opinion is a key question in the study of
democratic representation. While numerous studies have examined party
responsiveness on broad ideological dimensions, there is less comparative
research on when and how parties respond to public opinion on more
specific issue dimensions. We aim to address this research gap by studying
party positional responsiveness on seven issue dimensions. We conceptualise
party responsiveness as parties adjusting their positions to eliminate the
previous incongruence between themselves and the central point in the
voter preference distribution. This enables us to examine not only whether
parties are responsive to public opinion, but also how much party
responsiveness contributes to party-voter congruence. Building on theories of
social cleavages and party competition, we develop and test hypotheses on
how patterns of responsiveness vary across issues depending on whether
they are of core or secondary relevance to the party’s ideological identity.
Our empirical analysis combines the Chapel Hill Expert Surveys, the European
Social Survey and the European Election Study from 14 Western European
countries. We find that parties respond to their supporters on both core and
secondary issues. We also show that responsiveness to party supporters is
generally compatible with parties responding to the broader electorate.
democratic representation. While numerous studies have examined party
responsiveness on broad ideological dimensions, there is less comparative
research on when and how parties respond to public opinion on more
specific issue dimensions. We aim to address this research gap by studying
party positional responsiveness on seven issue dimensions. We conceptualise
party responsiveness as parties adjusting their positions to eliminate the
previous incongruence between themselves and the central point in the
voter preference distribution. This enables us to examine not only whether
parties are responsive to public opinion, but also how much party
responsiveness contributes to party-voter congruence. Building on theories of
social cleavages and party competition, we develop and test hypotheses on
how patterns of responsiveness vary across issues depending on whether
they are of core or secondary relevance to the party’s ideological identity.
Our empirical analysis combines the Chapel Hill Expert Surveys, the European
Social Survey and the European Election Study from 14 Western European
countries. We find that parties respond to their supporters on both core and
secondary issues. We also show that responsiveness to party supporters is
generally compatible with parties responding to the broader electorate.
Department/s
- Department of Political Science
Publishing year
2024
Language
English
Publication/Series
Journal of European Public Policy
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Topic
- Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalization Studies)
Status
Epub
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1350-1763