Left–Right Orientations and Ideological Voting in New Democracies: A Case Study of Slovenia

Abstract

The left–right schema encapsulates major political cleavages and constitutes an important link between voters and parties. Using election surveys in Slovenia covering the period 1992–2004, this study examines the anchoring of left–right orientations by social structure and party preference in Slovenia in comparison with other Central and Western European countries, and discusses differences in levels of ideological voting according to political sophistication, closeness to parties, support for the democratic process, perception of party system polarisation and preferred party. Results show that left–right orientations in post-communist societies are more anchored in partisanship than class and religion, and that higher education and perception of greater party system polarisation are associated with increased ideological voting.