Abstract
Normative theories of representative government posit congruence of opinion between the electorate and their representatives. However, not all political issues are equally salient, and agreement is expected to be greater on relatively salient issues. This paper employs balance theory to describe mechanisms which may produce congruence of opinion between voters and parties when an issue increases rapidly in salience. Panel data on Norwegian opinion during the debate on European Union membership are used to determine whether opinion congruence resulted from persuasion by political parties or policy voting by the electorate. Policy voters are found to differ systematically from voters who were persuaded by parties. Finally, the characteristics of parties which determine their success in persuading voters or attracting policy voters are evaluated.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Bogdanor, Vernon. (1989). Direct elections, representative democracy and European integration. Electoral Studies 8: 205–216.
Budge, Ian and Dennis Farlie. (1983). Voting and Party Competition. London: Wiley.
Bjartnes, Anders and Hanne Skartveit. (1995). Brussel Tur Retur. Oslo: Tiden Norsk Forlag.
Blalock, Hubert M. (1979). Social Statistics: Revised Second Edition. New York: McGraw Hill.
Converse, Philip. (1964). The nature of belief systems in mass publics. In D. Apter (ed.) Ideology and Discontent, pp. 206–261. New York: Free Press.
Carsey, Thomas M, and Geoffrey Layman. (1998). The role of attitudinal conversion in the partisan change process. Paper prepared for delivery at the 1998 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.
Eijk, Cees Van der and Mark Franklin. (1996). Choosing Europe?: The European Electorate and National Politics in the Face of Union. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Heider, Fritz. (1958). The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Hjelseth, Arve. (1995). Partienes EU-Strategi. Arbeidsnotat nr. 6 Folkavstemningsprosjektet, Universitet i Trondheim, Institutt for Sosiologi og Statsvitenskap.
Hix, Simon and Christopher Lord. (1997). Political Parties in the European Union. London: Macmillan Press.
Holmberg, Sören. (1995). Partierna gjorde så gott de kunde. In Mikael Gilljam and Sören Holmberg (eds.) Ett knappt ja til EU: äljarna och folkomröstingen 1994, pp. 225–236. Stockholm: Norstedts Juridik.
Holmberg, Sören. (1997). Dynamic opinion representation. Scandinavian Political Studies 20: 265–84.
King, Gary. (1997). A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Krosnick, Jon A. (1991). The stability of political preferences: comparisons of symbolic and nonsymbolic attitudes. American Journal of Political Science 35: 547–76.
Lipset, Seymour and Stein Rokkan. (1967). Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross National Perspectives. New York: The Free Press.
Listhaug, Ola, Sören Holmberg, and Risto Sänkiaho. (1998). Partisanship and EU choice. In Anders Todal Jenssen, Pertti Personen, and Mikael Gilljam (eds.) To Join or Not to Join. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
Macdonald, Stuart, Ola Listhaug and George Rabinowitz. (1991). Issues and party support in multiparty systems. American Political Science Review 85: 1108–1131.
Markus, G. B. and P. Converse. (1979). A dynamic simultaneous equations model of electoral choice. American Political Science Review 73: 1055–1070.
Niemi, Richard G. and M. Kent Jennings. (1991). Issues and inheritance in the formation of party identification. American Journal of Political Science 35:970–88.
Penubarti, Mohan and Alexander A. Schuessler. (1998). Inferring micro from macrolevel change: ecological panel inference in surveys. Political Methodology Paper Archive.
Pitkin, H. (1967). The Concept of Representation. Berkeley: The University of California Press.
Petrocik, John R. (1996). Issue ownership in presidential elections, with a 1980 case study. American Journal of Political Science 40: 825–850.
Rabinowitz, George and Stuart E. Macdonald. (1989). A directional theory of issue voting. American Political Science Review 83:93–121.
Rahn, Wendy, Jon Krosnick, and Marijke Breuning. (1994). Rationalization and derivation processes in survey studies of political candidate evaluation. American Journal of Political Science 38:582–600.
Ramberg, Inge. (1995). EU-striden i tabloidformat: En innholdsanalyse av nyhets-og backgrunnsartiklene on EU-saken I Dagbladet og VG foran folkavstemmingen om norsk medlemskap i Den europeiske union, 28. November 1994. Hovedoppgave Universitet i Trondheim Institutt for sosiologi og statsvitenskap.
Ray, Leonard. (1998). Politicizing Europe: Political Parties and the Changing Nature of Public Opinion about the EU. Trondheim: Folkavstemningsprosjektet Arbeidsnotat nr. 19. Institutt for sosiologi og statsvitenskap, NTNU.
Ray, Leonard. (1999). Measuring party orientations towards European integration: results from an expert survey. European Journal of Political Research 36: 283–306.
Strøm, Kaare. (1990). A behavioral theory of competitive political parties. American Journal of Political Science 34: 565–98.
Sears, David O. (1975). Political socialization. In Fred I. Greenstein and Nelson Polsby (eds.) Handbook of Political Science Volume II, pp. 93–153. Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Visser, Max. (1994). Policy voting, projection, and persuasion: an application of balance theory to electoral behavior. Political Psychology 15: 699–711.
Zaller, John R. (1992). The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Aardal, Bernt, and Henry Valen. (1995). Konflikt og Opinion. Oslo: NKS Forlaget.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ray, L. Conversion, Acquiescence, or Delusion: The Contingent Nature of the Party-Voter Connection. Political Behavior 21, 325–347 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023326710016
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023326710016