Narrowing the Gap

Explaining the Increasing Competitiveness of the Venezuelan Opposition

Bibliographic Data

ID7905893
AuthorsYordan Kutiyski (0000-0003-0889-4232, Compass (United States)), Yordan K Kutiyski, André Krouwel (0000-0003-0952-6028, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Year2014
Volume56
Issue4
Pages71-97
Publication date2014-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American Politics and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1531-426X • E-ISSN: 1548-2456
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1548-2456.2014.00249.x
OpenAlexW2011852838
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited55

This article seeks to explain why electoral support for the Venezuelan opposition has increased substantially, using Venezuelan public opinion survey data from LAPOP and an opt-in sample collected through the online vote advice application Brújula Presidencial Venezuela. It analyzes why Venezuelans who had either voted for Chávez or abstained in 2006 defected and started to support the opposition in subsequent elections. It proposes several reasons: negative voter evaluations of the economy, concern for public safety, and dissatisfaction with Venezuelan democracy. While the finding that negative policy evaluations boost support for the opposition aligns with theoretical expectations, this study finds a strong relationship between having different evaluations of the quality of democracy and supporting Chávez, which shows that the advocacy of two competing visions of democracy by the incumbent and the opposition also affects voting patterns in Venezuela

Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Public support · Sociology · Vision · Voting · Cultural and political discourse analysis · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Politics and Society in Latin America · Public Administration