The Public/Private Sector Cleavage in North America

Abstract

This article explores the private/public sector cleavage in voting and political attitudes in Canada and the United States. The authors use public choice theory to hypothesize that the interest of public sector employees in the growth of the state inclines them to vote for parties of the left, to support increased state spending, and to place themselves on the left ideologically in both countries. However, given differences between Canadian and U.S. party systems as well as differences over time in the prominence of issues related to state size and growth, the sectoral cleavage should be more prominent in the United States than in Canada but of greater significance in recent elections than in earlier ones in both countries. The authors proceed by adding a sectoral-cleavage variable to multivariate models of party support and attitudinal position. On the whole the effect is greater in the United States, and mainly for presidential voting, and seems to have been particularly significant in the 1984 election. In Canada, sector is related mainly to the choice of the New Democratic Party over the two larger parties. In Canada, but not the United States, an ideological difference between sectors may have emerged that could strengthen sectoral differences based on self-interest.