Electoral fortunes of social democratic parties: do second dimension positions matter?

Tarik Abou-Chadi, Markus Wagner

Veröffentlichungen: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelPeer Reviewed

Abstract

The dramatic decline in vote shares on the mainstream left in many recent elections has led to a renewed discussion about a crisis of Social Democracy. One popular argument is that Social Democratic decline is the result of these parties' liberal cultural positions and pro-EU stance, with both topics increasingly salient for their traditional voters, particularly among the working class. However, we lack comparative evidence testing this argument. In this paper, we combine CHES data on party positions with ESS survey data to analyze the electoral effects of Social Democratic parties' second dimension and EU positions. In addition, we focus on whether support from different socio-economic groups is sensitive to these positions. In contrast to much public debate, we find that more authoritarian/nationalist and more anti-EU positions are if anything associated with lower rather than greater electoral support for social democratic parties.
OriginalspracheEnglisch
Seiten (von - bis)246-272
Seitenumfang27
FachzeitschriftJournal of European Public Policy
Jahrgang27
Ausgabenummer2
Frühes Online-Datum30 Jan. 2020
DOIs
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 1 Feb. 2020

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  • 506014 Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft

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