Perspectives of using spatial data in studies of political orientations of the Ukrainians

Abstract

The article analyzes perspectives of using spatial data in the researches of political orientations of Ukrainians. The purpose of this research is to study the perspectives of using spatial data in studies of political orientations of the Ukrainians through identification of the links between electoral choices and the proximity/remoteness of the place of living from the border(s) to other states. The research is based on the assumption that the measure of proximity of territories to the border with another state affects the level of support of political parties in these territories.Empirical data for this research is the results of voting in the Chernihiv region on the Parliamentary elections of 2012 and 2014. The relationship between the electoral choice and the place of living is analyzed on an aggregated level. The units of analysis in this study are the polling stations of the Chernihiv region. The level of support parties in the Parliamentary elections (2012 and 2014) is calculated for each polling station. The level of support is the percentage of votes for the party in a polling station. The proximity or remoteness of the borders with other states is encoded at the level of districts of the Chernihiv region. Thus, all polling stations are divided into three groups: the districts that border with Russia, the districts that border with Belarus, and the districts that don`t that border with other countries. In order to assess the effect of the proximity to the border with another state on the results of voting, several linear regression equations have been calculated.Based on the data of the regression equations, we can conclude that during the Parliamentary elections of 2012 it is possible to identify parties whose level of support is positively influenced by the proximity of the place of living to the borders with other states and the parties whose level of support is negatively influenced. In 2014, proximity to the border with another state also serves as a significant predictor for the support of most parties. Also, as in the previous stage of the analysis, it is possible to identify parties whose level of support is positively influenced by the proximity of the place of residence of the population to the borders with other states and parties whose level of support is negatively influenced by this variable.As a result of this study, the perspectives of using spatial data in the study of political orientations of the Ukrainian population have been demonstrated. It is shown how the proximity to the border with some country or the absence of borders with other countries is related to the voting strategy in the area.