The decline in diffuse support for national politics: the long view on political discontent in Britain
The decline in diffuse support for national politics: the long view on political discontent in Britain
This research note considers how to track long-term trajectories of political discontent in Britain. Many accounts are either confined to using survey data drawn from recent decades or imperfect behavioural measures such as voting or party membership as indicators of political disengagement. We instead develop an approach that provides the long view on political disaffection. We first consider time series data available from repeated survey measures. We next replicate historic survey questions to observe change in public opinion relative to earlier points in time. Finally, we use Stimson’s (1991) dyad-ratios algorithm to construct an over-time index of political discontent that combines data from multiple poll series. This reveals rising levels of political discontent for both specific and diffuse measures of mass opinion. Our method and findings offer insights into the rising tide of disillusionment afflicting many contemporary democracies.
Anti-politics, Public opinion, Diffuse support
748-758
Jennings, William
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Clarke, Nicholas
4ed65752-5210-4f9e-aeff-9188520510e8
Moss, Jonathan T.
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Stoker, Gerry
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7 September 2017
Jennings, William
2ab3f11c-eb7f-44c6-9ef2-3180c1a954f7
Clarke, Nicholas
4ed65752-5210-4f9e-aeff-9188520510e8
Moss, Jonathan T.
e5478a0e-3666-4d70-84ed-dc4bba11784d
Stoker, Gerry
209ba619-6a65-4bc1-9235-cba0d826bfd9
Jennings, William, Clarke, Nicholas, Moss, Jonathan T. and Stoker, Gerry
(2017)
The decline in diffuse support for national politics: the long view on political discontent in Britain.
Public Opinion Quarterly, 81 (3), .
(doi:10.1093/poq/nfx020).
Abstract
This research note considers how to track long-term trajectories of political discontent in Britain. Many accounts are either confined to using survey data drawn from recent decades or imperfect behavioural measures such as voting or party membership as indicators of political disengagement. We instead develop an approach that provides the long view on political disaffection. We first consider time series data available from repeated survey measures. We next replicate historic survey questions to observe change in public opinion relative to earlier points in time. Finally, we use Stimson’s (1991) dyad-ratios algorithm to construct an over-time index of political discontent that combines data from multiple poll series. This reveals rising levels of political discontent for both specific and diffuse measures of mass opinion. Our method and findings offer insights into the rising tide of disillusionment afflicting many contemporary democracies.
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Accepted/In Press date: 27 April 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 31 May 2017
Published date: 7 September 2017
Keywords:
Anti-politics, Public opinion, Diffuse support
Organisations:
Economy, Governance & Culture, Politics & International Relations, Geography & Environment
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 408202
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/408202
ISSN: 0033-362X
PURE UUID: 1a5e2753-d175-49dc-b08e-31adcc647651
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Date deposited: 17 May 2017 04:01
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 05:18
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Author:
Jonathan T. Moss
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