Attitude constraint and stability among elite and mass in Sweden

In: European journal of political research: official journal of the European Consortium for Political Research, Band 29, Heft 1, S. 59-72

Abstract

A panel of the Swedish electorate in 1985 and 1988, and a comparable panel comprised of members of the Swedish parliament, were analyzed for constraint and stability of attitudes. It was found that members of parliament showed considerably more constraint among attitudes and more attitude stability than the public. Among the public, members of political parties showed more constraint and stability than other voters who, in turn, showed more constraint and stability than nonvoters. A similar ordering was found in the link between specific issue attitudes and an abstract left-right dimension. Societal elites responding to the same questions showed more attitudinal constraint than the public but less than members of parliament. Thus, even at the elite level politics matters in the sense that involvement in politics enhances the degree of constraint between attitudes on contemporary issues. (European Journal of Political Research / FUB)