Disengaging elections? Political interest, number of elections, and turnout in elections to the European Parliament

2021 ◽  
pp. 146511652199845
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Nonnemacher
Keyword(s):  
Political Behavior ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
National Study ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
European Election ◽  
Using Data ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
Cross National Study

Since direct elections to the European Parliament began in 1979, variations in voting behavior in European Parliament elections from national elections have raised interesting questions about political behavior. I add to a growing literature that explores turnout in European Parliament elections by focusing on the count of national elections between European Parliament elections. Through a cross-national study of elections, I find that turnout decreases in the European Parliament contest following cycles with numerous national contests. Then, using data from the European Election Study, I argue that this is the result of frequent elections decreasing turnout particularly among already low interest voters who stay home. My findings have implications for how formal rules of multi-level elections shape political behavior more generally and voter fatigue in particular.

A Vote Against Europe? Explaining Defection at the 1999 and 2004 European Parliament Elections

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara B. Hobolt ◽  
Jae-Jae Spoon ◽  
James Tilley
Keyword(s):  
Contextual Factors ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Government Performance ◽  
National Elections ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Level Model ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
European Parliament Elections

Governing parties generally win fewer votes at European Parliament elections than at national electionsmost common explanation for this is that European elections are ‘second order national elections’ acting as mid-term referendums on government performance. This article proposes an alternative, though complementary, explanation: voters defect because governing parties are generally far more pro-European than the typical voter. Additionally, the more the campaign context primes Eurosceptic sentiments, the more likely voters are to turn against governing parties. A multi-level model is used to test these propositions and analyse the effects of individual and contextual factors at the 1999 and 2004 European Parliament elections. Both European and domestic concerns matter to voters; moreover, campaign context plays an important role in shaping vote choices.

Testing the Second-Order Election Model after Four European Elections

1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL MARSH
Keyword(s):  
European Parliament ◽  
National Election ◽  
Second Order ◽  
National Elections ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Using Data ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
Electoral Performance ◽  
The Impact

Reif and Schmitt argued that elections to the European Parliament should be understood as second-order national elections, and advanced several predictions about the results of such elections. Those concerning the impact of government status, party size, party character and the national election cycle on electoral performance are examined here using data on four sets of European Parliament elections. In addition, the consequences of European Parliament elections for the next national election are explored. The analysis demonstrates the validity of most of Reif and Schmitt's original propositions, and further refines their analysis of the relationship between European and subsequent national elections. However, all propositions hold much more effectively in countries where alternation in government is the norm, suggesting that the distinction between first-order and second-order elections may not be so clear cut as Reif and Schmitt imagined.

Testing the bargaining hypothesis in the manufacturing sector in developing countries

1987 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 609-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Kobrin
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
National Study ◽  
Global Integration ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Relative Bargaining Power ◽  
Cross National Study ◽  
Over Time

The bargaining power model of HC–MNC (host country–multinational corporation) interaction conceives of economic nationalism in terms of rational self-interest and assumes both inherent conflict and convergent objectives. In extractive industries, there is strong evidence that outcomes are a function of relative bargaining power and that as power shifts to developing HCs over time, the bargain obsolesces. A cross-national study of the bargaining model, using data from 563 subsidiaries of U.S. manufacturing firms in forty-nine developing countries, indicates that while the bargaining framework is an accurate model of MNC–host country relationships, manufacturing is not characterized by the inherent, structurally based, and secular obsolescence that is found in the natural resource industries. Shifts in bargaining power to HCs may take place when technology is mature and global integration limited. In industries characterized by changing technologies and the spread of global integration, the bargain will obsolesce very slowly and the relative power of MNCs may even increase over time.

scholarly journals What type of Europe? The salience of polity and policy issues in European Parliament elections

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Braun ◽  
Swen Hutter ◽  
Alena Kerscher
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Party System ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Issue Salience ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Crucial Difference ◽  
Using Data ◽  
European Parliament Elections

How much and why do political parties emphasize Europe in election campaigns? The literature is increasingly focusing on two aspects of party issue competition: position and salience. However, recent studies on salience tend to ignore the fact that Europe is a compound political issue. This article contributes to the debate by highlighting the crucial difference between constitutive and policy-related European issues. Using data from the Euromanifestos Project for 14 EU member states for the period 1979–2009, we first show that Europe is much more salient in European Parliament elections than previously assumed. Second, EU issue salience depends on party position and party system polarization over European integration. However, different explanations come into play once we bring in the polity-vs.-policy distinction. This has important implications for our understanding of party competition on European integration.

scholarly journals Parliamentary Representation: A Cross-national Study of Candidates’ Views

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 522-542
Author(s):  
Laura Sudulich ◽  
Siim Trumm ◽  
Jack Bridgewater
Keyword(s):  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
National Study ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Stage Process ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Party Family ◽  
Cross National Study ◽  
Cross National

AbstractThis study explores political elites’ self-conceptualisation of parliamentary representation by using data on nearly 7000 candidates encompassing 18 elections in 15 countries. We examine the relevance of institutional features, closeness to the sources of representatives’ mandates, party family, as well as candidates’ personal characteristics, with a modelling strategy that accommodates the understanding of role orientation as a two-stage process. We posit that choosing between being loyal to a party or to voters is not equivalent to prioritising one’s own agency in the first place, and suggest that self-conceptualisation of parliamentary representation happens in two different stages. We find that individual-level characteristics such as gender and ideological proximity to one’s party, but also party family, play a key role in shaping views on authority versus independence. The effects of political environment and institutions are limited to shaping a choice between responding to one’s party or constituents.

Explaining Vote Switching Across First- and Second-Order Elections

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cliff Carrubba ◽  
Richard J. Timpone
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
European Context ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Western Democracies

Across Western democracies, individuals frequently vote for different parties in different elections. A variety of explanations have been proposed for this behavior. In the European context, scholars have focused on the idea that individuals may vote for different parties because some elections are less important than others (i.e., are “second-order” elections). In the U.S. context, scholars have focused on the possibility that individuals might vote for different parties because they care about how the two chambers will affect policy outcomes. In this article, the authors test among four alternative motivations for vote switching, two predicated on the notion that individuals treat one of the elections as second-order and two predicated on the notion that individuals care about policy outcomes from both chambers. The tests are performed by analyzing Euro-barometer survey data on individual voting behavior in European national and European Parliament elections. The authors find support for all four motivations.

scholarly journals How candidate characteristics affect favorability in European Parliament elections: Evidence from a conjoint experiment in Finland

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-540
Author(s):  
Henrik S Christensen ◽  
Marco S La Rosa ◽  
Kimmo Grönlund
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Conjoint Analysis ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Previous Literature ◽  
Voter Behavior ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Political Experience ◽  
Candidate Characteristics ◽  
Conjoint Experiment ◽  
European Parliament Elections

Previous literature has studied voter behavior in European Parliament elections. However, it remains unclear how candidate characteristics affect favorability of EP candidates since it cannot be taken for granted that these characteristics work as in national elections. We therefore use a conjoint analysis to examine how gender, left-right ideology, issue focus, political experience, representative focus, citizenship, and attitude towards European integration affected EP candidate favorability during the 2019 campaign in Finland. Results show that while traditional candidate characteristics matter, their impact is dwarfed by effects of traits particular to the EP elections. Hence, it is imperative to observe the particularities of EP elections to understand candidate choice.

scholarly journals How Campaigns Enhance European Issues Voting During European Parliament Elections

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 791-808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Beach ◽  
Kasper M. Hansen ◽  
Martin V. Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Campaign Effects ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
Voter Decision Making ◽  
The One ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
The Impact

Based on findings from the literature on campaign effects on the one hand, and the literature on European Parliament elections on the other, we propose a model of European Parliamentary elections in which the campaign shift the calculus of electoral support, making differences in national political allegiances less important and attitudes about the European project more important by informing voters of and getting them interested in European politics. In effect, we argue that the political campaign leading up to the election makes European Parliament elections less second order. While previous studies have demonstrated that EU issues can matter for voting behavior in European Parliament elections, existing research has drawn on post-election surveys that do not enable us to capture campaign effects. Our contribution is to assess the impact of a campaign by utilizing a rolling cross-sectional survey that enables us to track how voters were affected by the campaign. Our findings show that campaigns do have an effect on European Parliament election outcomes, in that they provide information that enables voters to make decisions based on their attitude on European issues, making voter decision-making more dominated by EU issue voting.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document