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Research indicates that ideological congruence between citizens and political parties increases the likelihood of turning out to vote. But does this relationship also hold in times of economic crisis? In this study, I investigate whether economic conditions moderate the effect of voter–party representation on turnout. I argue that ideological congruence has significant effects on electoral participation during "normal" times, but these are even more relevant when citizens face economic hardship. Thus, in times of crisis, citizens are more likely to vote if they have a party that represents their position. I empirically test this argument by analyzing large-scale cross-national survey data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES). Findings bear important implications for the relationship between economic conditions and the functioning of modern democracies.

This paper studies the extent to which economic crises bust different reactions depending on individual ideological identity. Our argument is that individual left-right identification shapes how citizens evaluate the functioning of democracy, and consequently, it moderates the impact of economic crises on democratic discontent. We argue that left-wing individuals' views on democratic performance would be more heavily affected by economic results and strongly shaped by the (in)capacity of a democracy to represent its citizens in its reaction to the economic crisis. After testing our argument with data from the ESS, we provide evidence from a survey experiment conducted in Spain. Both analyses show that economic crises are relevant in explaining democratic dissatisfaction, but the strength of their impact depends on ideological identities. Economic results have a stronger effect on the satisfaction with democracy of left-wing individuals by negatively affecting their perception of the functioning of democratic representation.

Parties have strong incentives to present a relatively cohesive policy position to the voters across different levels of a political system. However, the adoption of inclusive forms of candidate selection methods like primaries could result in the selection of top candidates for elections on the subnational sphere who are not favoured by the party leadership. This is often seen as a threat to high levels of intra-party programmatic cohesion. Because subnational party organizations depend to a significant degree on the support from their national party, we argue that regional party branches that selected their top candidates by means of a primary adopt a policy position that deviates less strongly from the one of their national party. However, candidates selected by primaries might need to be responsive to the preferences of their regional selectorate, so that the incentives for parties at a regional level to deviate substantially from the position of their national party organization could increase. By analysing the content of 150 regional election manifestos of Spanish parties, we find that if a party's top candidate for a regional election is selected in a primary, then the policy distance between the respective regional and national party decreases. However, this effect is not observable for recently founded parties.

The study, funded by the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg, is carried out jointly by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, and the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) as part of the digilog@bw project. Digilog investigates the effects of digitalization on individuals and the society from an interdisciplinary point of view. Besides questions about modern sexism, attitudes towards science, attitudes towards the war in Ukraine, and several other timing topics, this survey includes a conjoint experiment, in which respondents assess different party profiles that are described by their stances on immigration, attitudes towards democracy and towards the EU, environmental protection and the role of the state in the economy. Respondents see two parties in each round (there is a total of 2 rounds) and answer questions about which party would they vote for and how likely it is that they vote for such a party in national elections. Respondents were randomly assigned to the different party profiles.
Prior to this study, the Digilog project conducted and published two significant studies: a Panel Study (https://doi.org/10.7802/2390) and a Cross-sectional Study (https://doi.org/10.7802/2459). Both of these studies are publicly available at GESIS, providing valuable resources for further research and analysis.

The study, funded by the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg, is carried out jointly by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, and the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) as part of the digilog@bw project. Digilog investigates the effects of digitalization on individuals and the society from an interdisciplinary point of view. The study collected data on the use of digital media, misinformation, political trust and political behaviour in Germany in May/June 2022. The focus is on misinformation, perceptions of democracy, different political behaviours, political attitudes and digital media use.

English:

The study, funded by the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg, is carried out jointly by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, and the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) as part of the digilog@bw project. Digilog investigates the effects of digitalization on individuals and the society from an interdisciplinary point of view. The three-wave online panel study collected data on the use of digital media, misinformation, political trust and political behaviour in Germany in late 2020 to late 2021. The focus is on perceptions of democracy, different political behaviours, political attitudes and digital media use.





Deutsch:

Die vom Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg geförderte Studie wird gemeinsam von GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften und dem Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung im Rahmen des Projekts digilog@bw durchgeführt. Digilog untersucht den Einfluss der Digitalisierung auf einzelne Individuen und die Gesellschaft. Mittels eines drei-welligen Online-Panels wurden zu diesem Zweck Daten zur Nutzung digitaler Medien, Misinformation, zu politischem Vertrauen und politischem Verhalten in Deutschland in 2020 und 2021 erhoben. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf Einstellungen zur Demokratie, verschiedenen Formen politischer Beteiligung, politischen Einstellungen und digitalen Medien.