Voter reactions to party policy repositioning: The role of inclusive intra-party decision-making

Changes in position present opportunities and risks for political parties. Parties reposition themselves hoping that the new stance will prove more popular among voters. Yet, position changes also carry dangers, as they can make parties appear opportunistic or incoherent. This study tests whether intra-party decision-making influences how voters react to party repositioning. We suggest that voters may approve of a position change more if it is based on an inclusive, rather than secretive, decision-making process. Thus, policy repositioning approved by the broader party membership should be appreciated more. We conduct a preregistered conjoint survey experiment in which we present British respondents with hypothetical repositioning on environmental and healthcare policy by Labour and the Greens. We find that more inclusive procedures increase approval of the repositioning and propensity to vote for the party. This study sheds light on how voters evaluate party policy repositioning, with important implications for our understanding of how intra-party dynamics relate to party performance.