Electoral Chair’s Seminar – 16 October

Distinct Strategy, Same Partisanship? Policy Stances and Expressive Partisanship in Canadian Elections

Alvaro Pereira Filho-University of Western Ontario

Partisanship in Canada is considered weaker than in the US. However, recent studies demonstrate that partisan-motivated reasoning, affective polarization, and emotional-driven voting are common phenomena among voters, which suggests a stronger partisanship to Canadian parties. Despite these findings, the expressive model of partisanship—an identity-based attachment to a political party—has yet to be verified in this context. Perceived polarization and fewer cross-pressures are two explanations for the current intensity of these partisan identity consequences. This study investigates whether levels of expressive partisanship are associated with polarization and social identities, as well as policy stances between federal elections in Canada. The singularity of the Canadian party system is that the individual parties experience fewer constraints to shift policy stances. In the two recent polls, for instance, the Conservative Party’s leaders adopted distinctive strategies for the party in critical policy domains, abortion and environment, increasing the convergence in policy stances and risks of conflict between policy preferences and party reputations without changing the electoral performance. Relying on data from the 2019 and 2021 elections, the measurement for expressive partisanship captures a full range of levels of involvement in politics and behaviours among Canadians. I find a decline in expressive partisanship among Conservative identifiers, specifically those holding pro-life or anti-climate attachments. These findings advance the debate on partisanship strength in Canada, in which variance in intensity suggests an association with shifts in policy stances and explains distinct levels of expressive partisanship relative to other partisan groups.

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This content has been updated on 10 October 2024 at 11 h 00 min.

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