I’m a Loser? Unexpected Election Outcomes and Satisfaction with Democracy Philippe Mongrain (Université de Montréal) A great amount of research has noted the existence of a gap between winners and losers in relation to satisfaction with democracy and other political attitudes. One aspect of the winner–loser gap that has been overlooked is the impact of […] Read more

Black Canadian Lives Matter in Public Opinion Nadjim Fréchet (Université de Montréal) Political cleavages, the relevance of the old ones like the emergence of new ones, are still highly debated in the literature since the canonical work of Lipset and Rokkan (1967). Some political scientists believe important sociodemographic changes in Western democracies might create political […] Read more

Polarization and the structure of multidimensional party competition in Europe Jelle Koedam (University of Zurich)Garret Binding (University of Zurich)Marco Steenbergen (University of Zurich) Ideological polarization is a key quality of any democratic system. While pluralism is necessary for electoral competition to function, there is growing concern over the increased division and fragmentation of today’s political landscape. In […] Read more

Getting the most out of comparative vote switching data: A new framework for studying dynamic multi-party competition Denis Cohen (University of Mannheim)Werner Krause (Humboldt University of Berlin)Tarik Abou-Chadi (University of Oxford) Large literatures on party competition and voting behavior focus on voter reactions to parties’ policy strategies, agency, or legislative performance. While many inquiries make […] Read more

Do people vote to avoid disapproval? A study of partisan pressure and social norms in Austria Maxime Coulombe (Université de Montréal),André Blais (Université de Montréal)Ruth Dassonneville (Université de Montréal) Recent studies have highlighted how descriptive and injunctive norms matter for turnout. We aim in this research to expand our understanding of these relationships in two […] Read more

How Fathers’ Leave Shapes Attitudes Toward Gender Equality  Jonathan Homola (Rice University)Petra Schleiter (University of Oxford)Margit Tavits (Washington University in St. Louis)Dalston Ward (ETH Zurich) Stereotypical attitudes about gender roles help sustain inequalities, which favor men over women in the social, economic, and political domains. We explore whether exposure to counter-stereotypical gender roles reduces traditional gender […] Read more

Candidate Rhetorical Strategy and Perceptions of Sincerity  Elizabeth Simas (University of Houston)Scott Clifford (University of Houston) Recent polls suggest that as few as 8% of Americans think that politicians believe most of the stances that they take on issues. This extreme level of cynicism threatens to break a fundamental link in representation. If candidates cannot […] Read more

Un pays divisé: identité, fédéralisme et régionalisme au Canada Evelyne Brie (University of Pennsylvania) Félix Mathieu (University of Winnipeg) Le Canada est un pays divisé… mais à quel point? Et surtout, comment expliquer et interpréter ce phénomène ? À l’aide de données de sondage originales issues de l’enquête La Confédération de demain 2.0 / The Confederation of […] Read more

Voters’ Preferences for Parties’ Moral Rhetoric Jae-Hee Jung (University of Houston) Moral rhetoric in party messages reflect parties’ attempts to represent voters’ moral values. It is unclear, however, how voters feel about such messages of moral representation. Do voters want parties to use moral rhetoric? Based on insights about the link between morality and politics, […] Read more

Are Citizens Tougher on Politicians Than Other Professions? Evidence from Survey Experiments in the United States and Canada Jean-François Daoust (University of Edinburgh)John McAndrews (University of Toronto)Thomas Bergeron (University of Toronto)Roosmarijn de Geus (University of Oxford) Peter J. Loewen (University of Toronto) Being a politician is not among the professions held in high regard by […] Read more