Party Identification: Nothing but the Vote?

In: Acta politica: AP ; international journal of political science ; official journal of the Dutch Political Science Association (Nederlandse Kring voor Wetenschap der Politiek), Band 35, Heft 1, S. 37-63

Abstract

In an influential article on party identification, Jacques Thomassen (1976) rejects the directional component of party identification as meaningless in European party systems, but finds the strength component to be meaningful. Here, the conclusion is criticized, because the theory considers party identification to be a lifelong property, & has no mechanism to handle changes in party identification. Further, "independent" voters are left out in the analysis. It is demonstrated -- using Dutch & Norwegian data -- that the directional component is closely related to party choice; however, the analysis suggests that party identification may be separated from party choice regarding long-term properties. This finding, ensures that the widely used strength component is indeed a measure for lasting identification & voter alignments. 7 Tables, 45 References. Adapted from the source document.