Policy Representation in Europe

Attitudinal correspondence between voters and candidates is an integral part of the chain of political representation. This chapter finds a high level of congruence between party elites and masses in Europe, but candidates appear to be more extreme ideologically than their voters. In older and more polarised democracies, especially if they use proportional electoral rules, party politicians tend to agree more with their voters. Among the citizens, attachment to parties, ideological moderation and education increase the likelihood that one finds a matching party. The attributes of parties also matter, party size reduces the degree of left-right congruence, particularly in disproportional systems, and party age increases it. Right-wing, mainstream and centrist parties have ideologically more proximate voters than left-wing, challenger and radical parties. We also found that the advantage of small parties in achieving accuracy of representation largely evaporates in highly polarised systems.