How Citizens Judge Extreme Legislative Dissent

Experimental Evidence from Canada on Party Switching

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6310258
AutoresJohn R Mcandrews (0000-0002-3085-9479, University of Toronto, autor correspondente), Feodor Snagovsky (0000-0001-6452-1516, Australian National University), Paul E J Thomas (0000-0002-7505-0008, Carleton University)
Ano2019
Data de publicação2019-01-12
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoParliamentary Affairs (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0031-2290 • E-ISSN: 1460-2482
EditoraOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/pa/gsy050
OpenAlexW2911042385
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências 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