Setting the agenda or responding to voters? Political parties, voters and issue attention

Klüver, H. and Sagarzazu, I. (2016) Setting the agenda or responding to voters? Political parties, voters and issue attention. West European Politics, 39(2), pp. 380-398. (doi: 10.1080/01402382.2015.1101295)

Abstract

Why do political parties prioritise some policy issues over others? While the issue ownership theory suggests that parties emphasise policy issues on which they have an advantage in order to increase the salience of these issues among voters, the riding the wave theory argues instead that parties respond to voters by highlighting policy issues that are salient in the minds of citizens. This study sheds new light on the selective issue emphasis of political parties by analysing issue attention throughout the entire electoral cycle. On the basis of a quantitative text analysis of more than 40,000 press releases published by German parties from 2000 until 2010, this article provides empirical support for the riding the wave theory. It shows that political parties take their cues from voters by responding to the issue priorities of their electorate. The results have important implications for political representation and the role that parties play in democracies.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Sagarzazu, Dr Inaki
• Authors: Klüver, H., and Sagarzazu, I.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: West European Politics
• Publisher: Routledge
• ISSN: 0140-2382
• ISSN (Online): 1743-9655
• Published Online: 09 November 2015
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2015 The Authors
• First Published: First published in West European Politics 39(2): 380-398
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a creative commons license