Repercussions of the economic crisis on citizen’s voting behavior in the 2014 elections to the European Parliament

Braun, Daniela and Tausendpfund, Markus (2016): Repercussions of the economic crisis on citizen’s voting behavior in the 2014 elections to the European Parliament. 3-Länder-Tagung der der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft. Panel 41: Bringing Citizens Back In: Unterstützung und Widerstand regionaler Integrationsprojekte, Heidelberg, 29. September - 1. Oktober 2016.

Abstract

Findings to the question whether the economic crisis has an impact on voting decisions stem mainly from case studies. In contrast, this study offers a cross-national set-up together with a broad understanding of the crisis phenomenon. The guiding questions of our empirical analysis using data from the European Election Study 2014 are whether the crisis (a) affected the individual decision of voters to cast their ballot in the elections to the European Parliament, and (b) whether it had an impact on the voting decision for a Eurosceptic party. Our findings show that the crisis determines both turnout and the voting decision for a Eurosceptic party. While turnout depends on the personal nuisance, the Eurosceptic vote is differently related to the crisis. Voters – without being affected personally by the crisis – have a higher propensity to vote for a Eurosceptic party if “only” their country is subjected to economic turmoil.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
• Faculties: Social Sciences > Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for Political Science
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 320 Political science
• Language: English