Party responsiveness to public opinion and party supporters: Revisiting the mechanisms and motivations

Abstract

Previous works conceptualized responsiveness as parties following every movement of median voters (MV) or party supporters. We argue instead that whether a party should follow every movement of MVs/supporters is conditioned, first, by whether the MV (or supporter) moves toward or away from the party position and, second, by whether the party is policy or vote-oriented. We examine these claims based on survey data, which allow locating voter and party positions on a common ideological scale. Our main results nuance previous findings. We show that mainstream parties do adjust their position according to shifts in the position of MVs but only when these shifts are away from their position as predicted by a vote-seeking strategy. Our results also indicate that niche parties do adjust their position but only when their supporters move toward their position as predicted by a policy-oriented strategy. Overall, our results indicate that parties adjust their position with changes in public opinion, but that their responses are contingent on party characteristics and the direction of the change in public opinion.