What's your problem? How issue ownership and partisan discourse influence personal concerns

Abstract

AbstractObjectivePolitics around the world has become more divisive. We ask if the influence of far‐right parties extends to personal concerns and argue that a theory combining issue ownership with partisan discourse can explain personal policy salience.MethodUsing aggregate Eurobarometer data, we create compositional models to estimate the effect of partisan discourse on pocketbook policy concerns. We focus on whether these elite messages influence concerns differently depending on the presence of a far‐right party.ResultsWe find that more partisan discussion about law‐and‐order issues influences relative personal concerns on security and immigration issues across ideological groups when a far‐right party is present.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that an “issue‐owning” party can alter how people interpret politics and view their own concerns. Far‐right parties influence the perceptions of people across ideologies. Research showed that these parties can influence parties and voters; we show that they can shape personal perceptions.