Left-right Dimension Research Articles

Basic personal values and vote choice in 20 European countries

Employing European Social Survey data (ESS Round 7) from 20 countries ( N = 20,464), we tested several pre-registered hypotheses regarding the associations between basic personal values—as conceptualized by Schwartz’ Values Theory—and vote choice in national elections. To operationalize vote choice, we relied on the Chapel Hill Experts Survey for expert ratings of party positioning on ideology, policy, and populism. Personal values, and particularly universalism, were associated with the cultural gal-tan (green-alternative-liberal vs. traditional-authoritarian-nationalist) dimension (8% shared variance) and the economic left-right dimension (4% shared variance). The associations with gal-tan were even stronger when the dimension was salient in the party agenda. Associations between specific policy positions (e.g., multiculturalism, redistribution) and values were very similar to those between values and ideology. Voting populist was weakly associated with lower universalism and higher security (1% shared variance). The associations were generally stronger among the more educated and in western European countries. Our results suggest that Universalism values could help explain why the “left” and the “gal” poles tend to go together and are also more generally consistent with accounts of political conflict and cleavage centered around cultural issues and rooted in values.

Ideological extremism, left-right orientations, and invalid voting in two-round presidential elections in Latin America

ABSTRACT Ideology is one of the most studied factors affecting voting behavior in modern mass democracies. Despite that, literature on invalid voting has focused on other explanatory factors at the aggregate and individual levels. This article argues that ideology is a relevant explanatory factor affecting invalid voting at the individual level and advances two hypotheses. Specifically, voters with known preferences on the left-right dimension and those further from the center will be less prone to cast an invalid ballot in presidential elections. I test these hypotheses in the first and second rounds of nine presidential elections in four Latin American countries between 2002 and 2019. Additionally, the hypotheses were tested for voters caught in the runoff dilemma, i.e. those who did not vote for one of the two candidates who advanced to the second round. Using the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems data, the analysis confirms that left-right orientations and ideological extremism are negatively associated with the probability of casting an invalid vote. The article’s findings help expand our knowledge about how some specific features of ideology affect voting behavior, thus contributing to the literature on ideological and invalid voting.

Party responsiveness over time: From left-right to issue specific dimensions

Parties’ ideological responsiveness to public opinion is a key finding in the party politics literature. Leveraging the longitudinal coverage of public opinion and party position data, this research note shows that findings of left-right ideological responsiveness are limited to a specific time period. We find that since the mid-1990s, left-right shifts in public opinion are no longer significantly associated with party position changes on the same dimension. By examining over-time changes in responsiveness on more specific issue dimensions, we also uncover that at about the same time, a pattern of responsiveness on issues related to nationalism/immigration has emerged. These findings highlight the need to move beyond a focus on a single left-right dimension for studying public opinion and party behavior.

How and why aversive personality is expressed in political preferences.

Political orientation reflects beliefs, opinions, and values that are, at least in part, rooted in stable interindividual differences. Whereas evidence has accumulated with regard to the relevance of basic personality dimensions, especially concerning the sociocultural dimension of political ideology, less attention has been paid to the more specific dispositional tendency to assign a higher weight to one's own utility above others' (i.e., socially aversive personality), which is likely to play a pivotal role concerning the economic dimension of political ideology in particular. In three studies with over 66,000 participants from 38 countries, we show that individuals with elevated levels in aversive personality tend to endorse more right-wing political orientations in terms of a single left-right dimension, hold relevant ideological beliefs tied to both sociocultural and economic conservatism, and report corresponding electoral voting behavior. We further provide support for the idea that this overlap between a dispositional tendency toward aversive behavior and a right-wing political orientation can be attributed to shared belief systems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Do Parties Matter? Party Positions and European Voters’ Attitudes toward Economic and Political Globalization

Abstract To what extent do party positions influence voters’ attitudes toward the economic and political aspects of globalization? Initially an issue following a left-right dimension of conflict, globalization increasingly divides mainstream from nonmainstream parties. In this study, I argue that parties help citizens form opinions on globalization issues. I then use data on voters’ attitudes and party positions on globalization to test this supply-side theory of globalization attitudes on both economic and political dimensions. Holding demand-side factors such as economic self-interest and predispositions/values constant, I find that party positions strongly affect voters’ views on economic and political globalization, with the effect being similar to that of education. Moreover, I find that the effect of cues from left- and right-populist parties is much more negative than that of mainstream parties, replicating previous elite-level findings on the positioning of these party families. Finally, green party cues show conflicting results for the economic and political dimensions, with green cues affecting voters negatively on economic globalization but positively on political globalization. The findings in this study call for a deeper exploration of the supply-side determinants of globalization attitudes.

Dimensions of disagreement in EU affairs: is parliamentary opposition driven by left-right or European integration contestation?

This study provides new insights into how the EU dimension relates to the left-right dimension in national politics. It does so by examining to what extent parties’ oppositional behaviour in EU affairs in parliament is a function of their distance from the government, other parties, the voters and party supporters on the EU dimension and the left-right dimension, respectively. The results suggest that oppositional behaviour is determined by two parallel dynamics: when expressing opposition, political parties are receptive both to the positions of the government and other parties on the EU dimension, and to the positions of voters and supporters on the left-right dimension. The results of the study thus indicate that the politicisation of EU affairs in national parliaments primarily is an elite phenomenon. In their relation to the voters and supporters, parties still principally navigate along the traditional left-right dimension.

How important are family issues politically? Public opinion in the context of economic and cultural political cleavages

ABSTRACT How politically important are family issues to voters overall and in the context of economic and cultural political opinion cleavages? We use data from the 2014 New Zealand Election Study to answer these questions. More than 60% of respondents claim that family issues – generally defined – were ‘somewhat’ or ‘very important’ when deciding whom to vote for in the 2014 elections, suggesting that family issues are viewed as politically significant. Many respondents have clear political issues in mind when it comes to family and there is a strong connection between believing family issues are important and holding more economic left-wing attitudes and cultural authoritarian attitudes. Qualitatively, there is strong agreement on the main family issues of importance among those who argue that their vote was influenced by family issues, with education and healthcare defined as the most important. However, crucial differences in the most commonly listed family issues occur between citizens depending on their positions on the economic and cultural left-right dimensions. Arguably, the relative importance of family issues opens a unique cross-cutting view into the socioeconomics of vote choice.

Do They Get Close? Party Shifts and Changes in Parliamentary Congruence on Multiple Issue Dimensions in the Wake of the Crises

ABSTRACT This article explores congruence in the wake of the crises. It analyses (1) shifts in parties’ positions on multiple issue dimensions and (2) examines congruence between citizens and parliament in times of crisis. The article refers to three issue dimensions: left-right, migration and European integration. First, I hypothesise that shifts in party positions are more pronounced on newly contested issue dimensions, such as migration or European integration, than on the left-right dimension. Second, I argue that systemic congruence will increase over the course of time. Third, I posit that systemic congruence will increase particularly on newly contested issue dimensions, like migration and European integration. The study brings together a set of Western European countries: France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain and Sweden. The analysis is based on CHES- and ESS-data (2006–2018/2019) and explores congruence as a many-to-many relationship. In large part, the results confirm the hypotheses. First, party positions changed, and shifted particularly on the issue dimensions of European integration and migration. Second, systemic congruence increased in several cases. Third, the most profound changes are to be found on the issue dimension of European integration.

Techno-Populism revisited: A Comparison between the Italian Five Stars Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle) and the Chilean People’s Party (Partido de la Gente)

This paper compares the ideological and organizational trajectory of the Italian M5S (Movimento Cinque Stelle) with the ideological and organizational foundations and characteristics of a recently born party, the Chilean Partido de la Gente (PdG). This paper aims not only at putting the early trajectory of the PdG in comparative perspective and to start focusing on an under-researched party. This paper also aims at debating over the analytical strengths and weaknesses of adopting the conceptual lens of ‘technopopulism’ to classify and understand both the M5S and the PdG. This paper argues that these two parties share (more exactly, shared, because of the evolution of the Italian party) not only several genetic discoursive and (to a minor extent) organizational characteristics, but also some (albeit not all) contextual (historical, social, political) conditions favoring their successful emergence and electoral consolidation. At the same time, a closer analysis sheds some lights on important ideological (and, consequently, socio-political, i.e. in terms of class appeals) differences that may contribute to understand their seemingly diverging evolutions. These differences suggest that the concept of ‘techno-populism’, while analytically useful and even attractive, may also obscure strongly different ideological foundations of parties sharing the same techno-populist logic. Contra defenders of the ‘techno-populist’ concept, the traditional left-right dimensions (in our case, mostly declined through the pro-state/pro-market divide) are destined to reappear, sooner or later, in the surface.

Political orientation predicts the use of conventional and complementary/alternative medicine: A survey study of 19 European countries

BackgroundPeople align their beliefs and behaviors, including those related to health, increasingly along politically ideological lines. ObjectiveWe investigated whether individual political orientation (PO) predicts the use of conventional (CM) and complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) across Europe. MethodsWe used cross-sectional samples representative of persons aged 15 and over from 19 European countries (ESS 2015; round 7; N = 35,572). We assessed PO based on participants’ vote choice in the most recent national election, using expert ratings of party positioning along five political-ideological dimensions: left-right general; left-right economic; Green/alternative/libertarian vs. Traditional/authoritarian/nationalist; anti-elite; and anti-corruption. Use of CM was defined as having consulted a general practitioner or specialist, and use of CAM as having used acupuncture, acupressure, Chinese medicine, homeopathy, herbal treatment, hypnotherapy, or spiritual healing. ResultsParticipants with an anti-corruption PO were less likely to use CM and more likely to use CAM than other Europeans. Participants with a Green/alternative/libertarian PO were more likely to use CAM than others. Poorer health moderated the association between anti-corruption PO and CM, such that people in poor health tended to use CM regardless of their political leanings, but health status did not moderate the association between PO and CAM use. ConclusionsThe results show that political and socio-cultural views are associated with how the European lay public engages with healthcare and complementary/alternative services, but the relevant boundary lines do not lie along the left-right dimension. People who preferred parties favoring expanded freedoms were more likely to use complementary/alternative services, but likely for other reasons than to seek cures for diseases in a traditional biomedical sense. Concerns about corruption among the lay public may be more relevant for conventional healthcare than has been recognized.

Look to Denmark or not? An experimental study of the Social Democrats’ strategic choices

Social Democratic parties struggle to maintain their strong electoral position, as political competition has shifted from the traditional left-right dimension to the cultural dimension. This has led to a debate on what would be the most viable electoral strategy for these parties in terms of adjusting their policies. Some propose a “New Left” policy platform that combines social investment and progressive cultural policies; others an “Old Left” policy platform that combines traditional redistribution policies and social-conservative cultural policies. We conducted a survey experiment to test the effects of these two platforms on support for the Norwegian Labour party. Our results show that the New Left platform is more popular among current Labour voters and voters from competing left-wing parties, and the two policy platforms are equally popular among the total electorate.

Intra-party heterogeneity and voter perceptions of party positions

Do voters correctly perceive left-right positions of political parties? This question received considerable attention in the literature in the past decades. Previous research has shown that most voters have somewhat ‘correct’ perceptions of where parties are located on a left-right dimension, but that both individual and party level factors influence how much those perceptions deviate from the real positions. This paper adds to this literature, relaxing the unitary actor assumption and introducing heterogeneity to the analysis. Using data from elite surveys to measure intraparty preference heterogeneity on two dimensions, I demonstrate that voters' misperceptions of party positions strongly increase the more heterogeneous the positions of party elites are on the economic dimension, but not on the sociocultural dimension, and that the effect size depends on how salient this dimension is for the party. The findings have implications for future research on mass-elite linkages, representation, as well as voting behavior.

Local political space: Localism, the left-right dimension and anti-elitism

This paper presents a three-dimensional approach to party political conflict at the local level, drawing from an anti-elitism dimension, the left-right dimension and a localism dimension. More than 4500 parties participating in the 2014 and 2018 Dutch municipal elections are placed on these dimensions on the basis of their manifestos using quantitative textual analysis. A three-pronged approach is used to justify this three-dimensional model. The three dimensions are shown to be empirically distinctive. They are revealed to reflect meaningful differences between parties that are also visible in their names; and finally, these dimensions are shown to predict participation in local executive coalitions.

Scrutiny and policymaking in local councils: how parties use council tools

ABSTRACT In recent years, political scientists have gained greater understanding of how national parliamentary parties use their parliamentary tools: that is under what conditions they submit parliamentary questions or amendments to legislation. We know surprisingly little about how local councillors use the tools at their disposal: under what conditions do these local councillors submit questions to the local executive? When do they submit amendments to local ordinances? We examine to what extent the use of amendments and questions reflects differences between local party groups’ ideologies in terms of anti-elitism and the left-right dimension, and differences between coalition and opposition parties. On the basis of an analysis 454 local council groups in 53 Dutch municipalities we find considerable evidence for differences in the use of council tools between coalition and opposition parties.

The impact of university attendance on partisanship

AbstractSurvey research shows that those with university degrees are more left-liberal along a number of dimensions than their peers without higher education. There is even some evidence to suggest a growing social and political cleavage centered on educational attainment. Yet, claims about the liberalizing effect of universities on political ideology and partisan identification rest on observational evidence where many assumptions are required to reach causal inference. This may account for conflicting findings in published research.Here, we employ a fuzzy regression discontinuity design situated in Romania, where students who pass a national baccalaureate exam are uniquely qualified to enter university. We find that university attendance causes more liberal party preferences along the cultural dimension of party politics—though not along the economic or left-right dimensions of party conflict.

What is the best proxy for political knowledge in surveys?

Online surveys are becoming the dominant form for survey data collection. This presents a problem for the measurement of political knowledge, because, according to recent scholarship, unsupervised measurement of political knowledge in web-based surveys suffers from respondent dishonesty. This study examines the validity of five possible survey proxies for political knowledge: self-assessed sophistication, political interest, internal political efficacy, accuracy of party placements on a left-right dimension and political participation. The analysis draws on a 2020 survey data (n = 1,097) and partial replications with identical measures from a 2008 survey data (n = 1,021) from Finland. Through several tests, the five proxies are assessed in terms of convergent validity, criterion validity and predictive validity. Across all tests, political interest performs best on all dimensions of validity and demonstrates largely identical relationships with political knowledge. Although the survey measurement of political interest and political knowledge may partly tap into slightly different constructs, the analysis supports the conclusion that political interest is the most suitable survey proxy for political knowledge from among the five proxy candidates included in the analysis.

Party ideologies and European foreign policy. Examining the transnational foreign policy space

ABSTRACT The heterogeneity of foreign policy preferences has hampered a more effective Common Foreign and Security Policy. We examine the dimensionality of the EU foreign policy space by analyzing foreign policy votes in the European Parliament (1999–2019). As it contains the EU’s full geographical and ideological diversity, it is an important laboratory for testing expectations about what predicts foreign policy positions. Party ideologies structure voting on foreign policy: party-political disagreements over the CFSP and military interventions matter more on foreign policy votes than others. The left-right dimension and the EU integration dimension still explain a considerable share of voting patterns, although they matter less on foreign policy votes than others.

Categorical Confusion: Ideological Labels in China

The idea of a left-right ideological dimension helps citizens and parties organize their thinking about politics. While the left-right dimension is traditionally organized around questions of inequality and change in democracies, its meaning under authoritarian rule remains uncertain. This paper uses two national surveys to investigate the policy, partisan, and symbolic content of the left-right dimension in China. The analysis of these surveys reveals that while many Chinese citizens are willing to locate themselves on the left-right scale, their placements are distorted by a variety of perceptual bias known as differential item functioning. The labels of left and right do not carry a consistent programmatic meaning, and the partisan and symbolic content of these ideological labels is limited. One implication of the absence of a shared ideological understanding is that it prevents Chinese citizens from developing the type of vocabulary necessary for exercising political agency.

The politics of vaccine hesitancy in Europe.

BackgroundVaccine hesitancy threatens public health. Some evidence suggests that vaccine hesitancy in Europe may be linked with the success of populist parties, but more systematic analysis is needed.MethodsWe examine the prevalence of individual-level vaccine hesitancy across the European Union (EU) and its association with political orientations. We also analyze whether success of populist parties is linked with vaccine hesitancy and uptake. We draw on individual-level Eurobarometer data from 2019, with a total of 27 524 respondents across the EU. We also rely on national and regional-level populist party vote shares. Finally, for a time-series analysis, we rely on aggregated populist party support as measured in the European Social Survey waves 1–9 (2002–18), and national immunization coverage rates from the WHO from 2002 to 2018.ResultsWhile vaccine hesitancy is confined to a minority of the population, this group is large enough to risk herd immunity. Political orientations on a left-right dimension are not strongly linked to vaccine hesitancy. Instead, vaccine hesitancy is associated with anti-elite world views and culturally closed rather than cosmopolitan positions.ConclusionsVaccine hesitancy is not only present in all EU member states but also maps on broader dimensions of cultural conflict. Hesitancy is rooted in a broader worldview, rather than misperceptions about health risks. Pro-vaccine interventions need to consider the underlying worldview, rather than simply targeting misperceptions.

Party competition and the structuring of party preferences by the left-right dimension

There is a wide selection of theoretical approaches to explain preferences citizens have for political parties, among them the spatial model of party competition in which voters choose based on proximity in a policy space, such as the left-right dimension. However, it has not ultimately prevailed against its competitors. Thus, a literature has emerged that allows for heterogeneity, asking whose preferences follow this logic and whose do not. However, research on how context affects spatial structuring is still sparse. Therefore, I combine CSES survey data with manifesto data in a sample of established democracies to examine the effects of party competition structure, measured by the “effective” number of parties and the polarization and dimensionality of party positions, on left-right structuration of party preferences in a single model. While I do not find significant context effects with a conventional measure of proximity voting, I propose a different operationalization which shows that while there are systematic effects of the party system, party preferences are mostly quite strongly structured by the left–right dimension.