How Citizens Judge Extreme Legislative Dissent

Experimental Evidence from Canada on Party Switching

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6310258
AutoresJohn R Mcandrews (0000-0002-3085-9479, University of Toronto, autor de correspondencia), Feodor Snagovsky (0000-0001-6452-1516, Australian National University), Paul E J Thomas (0000-0002-7505-0008, Carleton University)
Año2019
Fecha de publicación2019-01-12
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaParliamentary Affairs (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0031-2290 • E-ISSN: 1460-2482
EditorialOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/pa/gsy050
OpenAlexW2911042385
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas19

Prior research suggests that voters prefer legislators who dissent from their party (e.g. by speaking out or rebelling in legislative votes) to those who remain loyal to their party. We examine whether this preference extends to extreme instances of dissent where legislators switch parties. Using what we believe is the first survey experiment to examine party switching, we show that, overall, Canadian voters are not more likely to approve of an MP’s decision to engage in this kind of extreme dissent than an MP who remains loyal to their party. Instead, respondents’ support for party switching—and the inferences they draw about legislators’ motivations for doing so—depend in predictable ways on their partisanship and policy attitudes. This suggests that there are important limits to voters’ endorsement of independent-mindedness among legislators

Criminology · Dissent · Legislature · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies