Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T05:06:51.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

What do voters do when they like a local candidate from another party?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2017

André Blais*
Affiliation:
Université de Montréal
Jean-François Daoust*
Affiliation:
Université de Montréal
*
Department of Political Science, Université de Montréal, Pavillon Lionel-Groulx, 3150, rue Jean-Brillant, Montréal QC, H3 T 1N8, email: [email protected]
Department of Political Science, Université de Montréal, Pavillon Lionel-Groulx, 3150, rue Jean-Brillant, Montréal QC, H3 T 1N8, email: [email protected]

Abstract

We address two questions: How many voters particularly like a candidate from another party? And do these voters vote for their preferred party or their preferred candidate? We use the Making Electoral Democracy Work data for the 2015 Canadian federal election in three provinces (British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec). We find that one voter out of ten particularly liked a candidate from a party other than the one he or she preferred. For two out of five of such voters, the preference for the local candidate trumped the party preference.

Résumé

Nous répondons à deux questions: quelle proportion d’électeurs préfère un candidat local qui n'est pas de leur parti préféré? Et est-ce que ces électeurs votent pour le parti préféré ou le candidat? Nous utilisons les données du projet Making Electoral Democracy Work de l’élection fédérale canadienne de 2015 dans trois provinces (Colombie Britannique, Ontario et Québec). Les résultats démontrent qu'un électeur sur dix préfère un candidat local différent de son parti préféré. Par ce sous-groupe, deux électeurs sur cinq vont voter pour le candidat préféré au détriment du parti dans ce sous-groupe.

Type
Research Note
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2017 

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.)

References

Allen, Nicholas and Bartle, John, eds. 2011. Britain at the Polls 2010. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Blais, A. 2010. “Making electoral democracy work.” Electoral studies 29: 169–70.Google Scholar
Blais, A. and Nadeau, R.. 1996. “Measuring strategic voting: a two-step procedure.” Electoral studies 15: 3952.Google Scholar
Blais, A., Nadeau, R., Gidengil, E., and Nevitte, N.. 2001. “Measuring strategic voting in multiparty plurality elections.” Electoral Studies 20: 343–52.Google Scholar
Blais, A., Gidengil, E., Dobrzynska, A., Nevitte, N. and Nadeau, R.. 2003. “Does the Local Candidate Matter? Candidate Effects in the Canadian Election of 2000.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 36: 657–64.Google Scholar
Blidook, Kelly. 2012. Constituency Influence in Parliament. Countering the Centre. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Carty, R. Kenneth and Eagles, Munroe. 2006. Politics Is Local. National Politics at the Grassroots. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cross, B. 2016. “The Importance of Local Party Activity in Understanding Canadian Politics: Winning from the Ground Up in the 2015 Federal Election.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 49: 601–20.Google Scholar
Daoust, Jean-François. 2015. “Vote stratégique au Québec: analyse de l’élection de 2012.” Politique et sociétés 34: 315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagles, Munroe. 1993. “Money and votes in Canada: Campaign spending and parliamentary election outcomes, 1984 and 1988.” Canadian Public Policy 19 (4): 432–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagles, Munroe. 2004. “The effectiveness of local campaign spending in the 1993 and 1997 federal elections in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 37 (1): 117–36.Google Scholar
Johnston, R. J. and Pattie, C. J.. 1989. “The impact of constituency spending on the result of the 1987 British general election.” Electoral Studies 8 (2): 143–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jung, Jai Kwan. 2008. “Growing supranational identities in a globalizing world? A multilevel analysis of the World Values Surveys.” European Journal of Political Research 47: 578609.Google Scholar
Kendall, C. and Rekkas, M.. 2012. “Incumbency advantages in the Canadian Parliament.” The Canadian Journal of Economics 45 (4): 1560–84.Google Scholar
Krashinksy, Micheal and Milne, William J.. 1985. “Additional evidence on the effect of incumbency in Canadian elections.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 18 (1): 155–65.Google Scholar
Marsh, Michael, Sinnott, Richard, Garry, John and Kennedy, Fiachra. 2008. The Irish Voter: The Nature of Electoral Competition in the Republic of Ireland. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Milligan, K. and Rekkas, M.. 2008. “Campaign spending limits, incumbent spending, and election outcomes.” Canadian Journal of Economics 41 (4): 1351–74.Google Scholar
Rekkas, Marie. 2007. “The impact of campaign spending on votes in multiparty elections.” The Review of Economics 89 (3): 573–85.Google Scholar
Stewart, John B. 1977. The Canadian House of Commons: Procedure and Reform. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar