Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2002
This article examines the impact of issues and the economy in the 1997 Canadian election among voters outside Quebec. The authors show that both factors affected individual vote choice and provide estimates of how much difference the issues and the economy made in the election. It appears that the issues were decisive for 9 per cent of the voters and the economy for 4 per cent. Issues mattered more than the economy for individual vote choice. The net impact of both the issues and the economy on vote support for the different parties was practically nil. The findings indicate that the Liberal victory cannot be imputed to the economy or the issues.