How Campaigns Enhance European Issues Voting During European Parliament Elections

Bibliographic Data

ID7972601
AuthorsDerek Beach (0000-0003-1869-0145, Aarhus University), Kristine M Hansen (0000-0002-8286-4771, University of Copenhagen), Kasper M Hansen, Martin Vinæs Larsen (0000-0002-5246-2755, University of Copenhagen)
Year2018
Volume6
Issue4
Pages791-808
Publication date2018-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Science Research and Methods (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2049-8470 • E-ISSN: 2049-8489
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/psrm.2017.6
OpenAlexW2602975622
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited33

Based on findings from the literature on campaign effects on the one hand, and the literature on European Parliament elections on the other, we propose a model of European Parliamentary elections in which the campaign shift the calculus of electoral support, making differences in national political allegiances less important and attitudes about the European project more important by informing voters of and getting them interested in European politics. In effect, we argue that the political campaign leading up to the election makes European Parliament elections less second order. While previous studies have demonstrated that EU issues can matter for voting behavior in European Parliament elections, existing research has drawn on post-election surveys that do not enable us to capture campaign effects. Our contribution is to assess the impact of a campaign by utilizing a rolling cross-sectional survey that enables us to track how voters were affected by the campaign. Our findings show that campaigns do have an effect on European Parliament election outcomes, in that they provide information that enables voters to make decisions based on their attitude on European issues, making voter decision-making more dominated by EU issue voting

Economics · General election · Parliament · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Public Administration · Social Media and Politics

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