Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-fnl2l Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-10T22:51:32.663Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Leadership Effects in Parliamentary Elections in Australia and Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 1989

Clive Bean  and
Anthony Mughan
Clive Bean
Affiliation:
Australian National University
Anthony Mughan
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Political party leaders are an increasingly influential electoral force in contemporary liberal democracies. We test the hypothesis that their appeal is idiosyncratic, that is, that their electoral effect is a function of the leadership qualities voters perceive individual candidates as possessing. Thus, the less similar their personality profiles, the more the characteristics influencing the vote should differ from one leader to another. A comparison of Australia and Britain finds the opposite to be the case. Despite the divergent profiles of party leaders, the precise characteristics influencing the vote are remarkably similar in the two countries. This does not mean, however, that variation in the distribution of these characteristics is unimportant. It can affect the balance of the party vote and may even have been the difference between victory and defeat for the Australian Labor party in the closely fought 1987 election.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 83 , Issue 4 , December 1989 , pp. 1165 - 1179
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aitkin, Don. 1982. Stability and Change in Australian Politics. 2d ed. Canberra: Australian National University Press.Google Scholar
Aitkin, Don. 1985. “Australia.” In Electoral Change in Western Democracies, ed. Crewe, Ivor and Denver, David. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Alford, Robert R. 1963. Party and Society: The Anglo-American Democracies. Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Bean, Clive, and Kelley, Jonathan. 1988. “Partisan Stability and Short-Term Change in the 1987 Federal Election: Evidence from the NSSS Panel Survey.” Politics 23:80–94.10.1080/00323268808402064CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, David, and Stokes, Donald. 1974. Political Change in Britain, 2d ed. London: Macmillan.10.1007/978-1-349-02048-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crewe, Ivor. 1985. “Great Britain.” In Electoral Change in Western Democracies, ed. Crewe, Ivor and Denver, David. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Franklin, Mark. 1985. The Decline of Class Voting in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Graetz, Brian, and McAllister, Ian. 1987a. “Popular Evaluations of Party Leaders in the AngloAmerican Democracies.” In Political Elites in Anglo-American Democracies, ed. Clarke, Harold D. and Czudnowski, Moshe M.. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Graetz, Brian, and McAllister, Ian. 1987b. “Party Leaders and Election Outcomes in Britain, 1974–1983.” Comparative Political Studies 19:484–507.10.1177/0010414087019004002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heath, Anthony, Jowell, Roger, and Curtice, John. 1985. How Britain Votes. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Jencks, Christopher, Bartlett, Susan, Schwartz, Joseph, Ward, Sherry, and Williams, Jill. 1979. Who Gets Ahead? The Determinants of Economic Success in America. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Johnston, John. 1984. Econometric Methods. 3d ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Kelley, Jonathan, and McAllister, Ian. 1985. “Class and Party in Australia: Comparison with Britain and the USA.” British Journal of Sociology 36:383–419.10.2307/590458CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelley, Stanley, and Mirer, Thad W.. 1974. “The Simple Act of Voting.” American Political Science Review 68:572–91.10.1017/S000305540011740XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessel, John H. 1988. Presidential Campaign Politics. 3d ed. Chicago: Dorsey.Google Scholar
Kinder, Donald R., Peters, Mark D., Abelson, Robert P., and Fiske, Susan T.. 1980. “Presidential Prototypes.” Political Behavior 2:315–37.10.1007/BF00990172CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAllister, Ian, and Ascui, Alvaro. 1988. “Voting Patterns.” In Australia Votes: The 1987 Federal Election, ed. McAllister, Ian and Warhurst, John. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.Google Scholar
McAllister, Ian, and Mughan, Anthony. 1987. Australian Election Survey, 1987: Users' Guide for the Machine-readable Data File. Social Science Data Archives Study no. 445. Canberra: Australian National University.Google Scholar
Maddala, G. S. 1983. Limited-dependent and Qualitative Variables in Econometrics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markus, Gregory B. 1982. “Political Attitudes during an Election Year: A Report on the 1980 NES Panel Study.” American Political Science Review 76:538–60.10.1017/S0003055400188392CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Arthur H., and Miller, Warren E.. 1975. “Issues, Candidates, and Partisan Divisions in the 1972 American Presidential Election.” British Journal of Political Science 5:393–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Arthur, Wattenberg, Martin P., and Malanchuk, Oksana. 1986. “Schematic Assessments of Presidential Candidates.” American Political Science Review 80:521–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Warren, and Levitin, Teresa, 1976. Leadership and Change: Presidential Elections from 1952 to 1976. Cambridge, MA: Winthrop.Google Scholar
Milne, Robert S., and MacKenzie, Hugh C.. 1954. Straight Fight. London: Hansard Society.Google Scholar
Milne, Robert S., and MacKenzie, Hugh C.. 1958. Marginal Seat. London: Hansard Society.Google Scholar
Mughan, Anthony. 1978. “Electoral Change in Britain: The Campaign Reassessed.” British Journal of Political Science 8:245–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mughan, Anthony. 1987. “The ‘Hip Pocket Nerve’ and Electoral Volatility in Australia and Great Britain.” Politics 22:66–75.10.1080/00323268708402032CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norporth, Helmut. 1987. “Guns and Butter and Government Popularity in Britain.” American Political Science Review 81:949–59.10.2307/1962685CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, G. Bingham Jr., 1986. “American Voter Turnout in Comparative Perspective.” American Political Science Review 80:17–43.10.2307/1957082CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawson, Donald W. and Holtzinger, Susan M.. 1958. Politics in Eden-Monaro. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Stokes, Donald E. 1966. “Some Dynamic Elements of Contests for the Presidency.” American Political Science Review 60:19–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, Donald E., Campbell, Angus, and Miller, Warren E.. 1958. “Components of Electoral Decision.” American Political Science Review 52:367–87.10.2307/1952322CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.