How Issue Salience Pushes Voters to the Left or to the Right

Recent research demonstrates that political parties in western Europe are generally structured along one dimension – and often take more or less similar ideological positions on the economic and cultural dimension – whereas the policy preferences of voters are structured two dimensionally; a considerable part of the electorate combines left-wing stances on one dimension with right-wing stances on the other. These ideologically ‘unserved’ voters are the main focus of this study. Using data from a large-scale survey in Flanders and Wallonia, we demonstrate how the sali†ence of the two... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Stefaan Walgrave
Patrick van Erkel
Isaïa Jennart
Jonas Lefevere
Baudewyns, Pierre
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
Verlag/Hrsg.: Elsevier
Schlagwörter: Issues / voting behaviour / salience / ideological dimensions / elections / Belgium
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-29344190
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/236675

Recent research demonstrates that political parties in western Europe are generally structured along one dimension – and often take more or less similar ideological positions on the economic and cultural dimension – whereas the policy preferences of voters are structured two dimensionally; a considerable part of the electorate combines left-wing stances on one dimension with right-wing stances on the other. These ideologically ‘unserved’ voters are the main focus of this study. Using data from a large-scale survey in Flanders and Wallonia, we demonstrate how the sali†ence of the two dimensions explains whether these unserved voters ultimately end up voting for a right-wing or a left-wing party. Specifically, we show that these vot†ers elect a party that is ideologically closest on the dimension that they deem most important at that time. To summarise, the findings of this study confirm that sali†ence is a key driver of electoral choice, especially for cross-pressured voters.