Idiosyncratic Issue Opinion and Political Choice - Paperback

by Nick Vivyan (Author), Benjamin E. Lauderdale (Author), Chris Hanretty (Author)

What is the nature of mass opinion on public policies? And what role do citizens' positions on policy issues play in their political choices? This book re-examines these questions, which lie at the heart of fundamental debates about whether democratic elections make policymakers responsive to citizens' policy preferences. The answers that political science currently provides to these questions tend to reflect one of two contrasting perspectives. The 'ideological voter' account suggests that citizens' opinions across different policies are organised well enough by ideology that political choice reduces to comparing positions on a small number of ideological dimensions, often characterised as an economic left-right dimension and a social liberal-conservative dimension. This simplifies democratic policy responsiveness. The 'innocent voter' account, by contrast, suggests that most citizens lack meaningful policy opinions on most issues. They express policy opinions that lack stability and ideological organisation, except where they simply mimic the policies espoused by the parties they support. This severely limits the prospects for democratic policy responsiveness.

Author Biography

Nick Vivyan, Professor of Politics, School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, Benjamin E. Lauderdale, Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, University College London, Chris Hanretty, Professor of Politics, Department of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy, Royal Holloway, University of London