Voters’ ability to perceive political parties’ positions on policy scales is a precondition for a functioning and responsive electoral democracy. Appropriate measures of policy distance are thus key to addressing the link between political parties and the citizens. This chapter reviews the scholarship on ideal point estimation, identifying the main methodological and substantial implications for empirical studies involving issue scales. Next, the chapter applies two-stage Bayesian Aldrich-McKelvey scaling to European Election Studies data to find evidence of systematic perceptual distortions: right-wing voters perceive political parties as more progressive than they actually are, while knowledgeable voters perceive greater differences between parties. Perceptual bias is also shown to correlate with standard polarization measures based on perceived party positions.

How Voters Distort their Perceptions and Why this Matters / A. De Angelis (OXFORD HANDBOOKS). - In: The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Persuasion / [a cura di] E. Suhay, B. Grofman, A.H. Trechsel. - Prima edizione. - Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2020 Jun 04. - ISBN 9780190860806. - pp. 945-973 [10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190860806.013.55]

How Voters Distort their Perceptions and Why this Matters

A. De Angelis
Primo
2020

Abstract

Voters’ ability to perceive political parties’ positions on policy scales is a precondition for a functioning and responsive electoral democracy. Appropriate measures of policy distance are thus key to addressing the link between political parties and the citizens. This chapter reviews the scholarship on ideal point estimation, identifying the main methodological and substantial implications for empirical studies involving issue scales. Next, the chapter applies two-stage Bayesian Aldrich-McKelvey scaling to European Election Studies data to find evidence of systematic perceptual distortions: right-wing voters perceive political parties as more progressive than they actually are, while knowledgeable voters perceive greater differences between parties. Perceptual bias is also shown to correlate with standard polarization measures based on perceived party positions.
electoral representation; issue positions; differential item functioning; ideal point estimation; European elections
Settore STAT-01/A - Statistica
Settore GSPS-02/A - Scienza politica
Settore GSPS-07/A - Sociologia dei fenomeni politici
4-giu-2020
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/1139259
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