Tag: Ruth Dassonneville
Can voters influence social policy?
One of the fundamental promises of electoral democracy is that voters influence governments’ policies. However, whether voters actually have such an influence remains an open question, with recent public debate and academic research often answering ‘no’. In a large-scale study of citizens’ preferences, Marc Hooghe, Ruth Dassonneville and Jennifer Oser investigate the extent to which there is a relationship between the political position of citizens and social policy in a broad range of countries over time. They find that, while there is no direct correlation between citizens’ preferences and their country’s social policy, high electoral turnout and the composition of the governing cabinet do have an effect.
The use of voter recall in election studies is unreliable, but shouldn’t be abandoned altogether
Pollsters and election researchers routinely make use of voters ‘recall’ of past voting habits, with it often used as a key determinant of how they will vote at subsequent elections. However research shows that voters are often unreliable in accurately recalling how they used their vote. In observing a recent panel study, Ruth Dassonneville and Marc Hooghe argue […]
When voters with high political knowledge change their votes, it is usually to ideologically similar parties
Electoral volatility has been much discussed of late, with the rise of small parties leading to switches from across the political spectrum. While much research has taken place into the extent of vote switching, rather less has taken place into the ideological ‘distance’ between the parties that are switched between. Ruth Dassonneville and Yves Dejaeghere have done […]
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