Explaining Low Turnout in EP Elections: Voter’s Perceptions of the European Parliament

Abstract

This paper utilizes data from the 2009 European Election Study to investigate how experience with parliamentary traditions at the national level and perceptions of the European Parliament at the European level interact to influence voting behavior in European elections. More specifically, I argue that individuals who are accustomed to strong parliaments and who view the EP as weak within the EU infrastructure will be more likely to abstain from EP elections or subordinate EU issues to national concerns. Much of the earlier research on EP elections uses contextual variables to demonstrate that governing parties suffer losses in EP elections, particularly in the middle of the election cycle; this research concludes that voters do not understand or care about EU issues and act according to national concerns in EP elections (Reif and Schmitt 1980, Marsh 1998, Hix and Marsh 2007). More recent studies rely on survey data to demonstrate that concerns over both national and EU level preferences influence voting behavior in EP elections (Hobolt, et al 2008, Clark and Rohrschneider 2009). This paper seeks to explain the discrepancy between the macro and micro-level research by identifying national-level conditions that might discourage voters from acting on EU preferences in EP elections.