Generational (re)alignment: emerging issues and new voters in Western Europe

Abstract

Voting behaviour in Western Europe has become increasingly structured by attitudes towards socio-cultural issues, such as immigration and European unification. This study examines whether generational differences affect this form of realignment. By combining data from the ESS and the CHES, it explores party–voter alignment on specific issues across 17 West European party systems from 2002 to 2020. ‘Age-Period-Cohort’ (APC) analyses demonstrate that younger generations are more strongly aligned than older generations on immigration, LGBTQ+-rights, the environment and left–right placement, but not on the EU and income redistribution. The results also show over-time increases in issue alignment for three of the six issues, but these period effects are more country-specific than the generational differences. Consequently, generational replacement can be expected to increase party–voter alignment on the left–right dimension and (some) new issues.