TY - JOUR
T1 - The ideological space in Irish politics
T2 - comparing voters and parties*
AU - Costello, Rory
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Political Studies Association of Ireland.
PY - 2017/7/3
Y1 - 2017/7/3
N2 - Drawing on an original survey of voters and parties, this article examines the policy space in Irish politics in the context of the 2016 general election. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses show that four broad ideological dimensions structure voters’ policy views across a range of salient issues. These are an economic dimension, a cultural dimension, a religious dimension and an austerity dimension. Comparing the location of voters and parties on these dimensions, gaps in the policy space are identified where voters are not represented by any party. Most noticeably, a significant segment of the electorate is found to have left-wing views on economic issues but conservative/authoritarian views on the cultural dimension, and this combination is currently not offered by any of the existing political parties. The article also highlights areas where political parties are out of step with the views of their own voters.
AB - Drawing on an original survey of voters and parties, this article examines the policy space in Irish politics in the context of the 2016 general election. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses show that four broad ideological dimensions structure voters’ policy views across a range of salient issues. These are an economic dimension, a cultural dimension, a religious dimension and an austerity dimension. Comparing the location of voters and parties on these dimensions, gaps in the policy space are identified where voters are not represented by any party. Most noticeably, a significant segment of the electorate is found to have left-wing views on economic issues but conservative/authoritarian views on the cultural dimension, and this combination is currently not offered by any of the existing political parties. The article also highlights areas where political parties are out of step with the views of their own voters.
KW - Policy dimensions
KW - issue congruence
KW - representation
KW - voting advice applications
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019737038&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/07907184.2017.1328408
DO - 10.1080/07907184.2017.1328408
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85019737038
SN - 0790-7184
VL - 32
SP - 404
EP - 431
JO - Irish Political Studies
JF - Irish Political Studies
IS - 3
ER -