Ideological dimensions and vote choice: age group differences in Austria

How and how much are ideological dimensions associated with vote choice among different age groups? Distinct socialisation experiences and life-cycle effects should lead to age group differences in the use of ideological dimensions. We test our hypotheses using a 2009 Austrian cross-sectional survey. We find that the extent of the association between ideological dimensions and vote choice is significant and similar across all age groups. However, the nature of the association depends on the type of party considered. Positions on the socio-cultural dimension are associated with voting for New Politics parties far more than positions on the socio-economic dimension; the latter distinguishes well between support for the two Old Politics parties. Overall, age group differences are surprisingly small in both the extent and nature of the association between ideological views and vote choice: there is only isolated evidence that the use of ideological dimensions differs across age groups.