Valence and competence

Green, Jane and Jennings, William (2017) Valence and competence. In, Arzheimer, Kai, Evans, Jocelyn and Lewis-Beck, Michael S. (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Electoral Behaviour. SAGE Publications, pp. 538-560.

Abstract

‘Valence’ refers broadly to performance and competence. In its most simple form, a voter makes a valence-based vote choice when they make a choice based upon the performance of a party or candidate. This can be contrasted with positional voting, when a voter makes a choice based on a preferred policy goal, with identity-based voting – such as a choice based on class, ethnicity, religion or gender, or when a voter makes a choice consistent with their pre-existing party attachment – their partisanship. But the simplest definition of valence voting hides a variety of different definitions, operationalizations and debates, precisely because this general definition opens up the potential for a myriad of interpretations, and those different interpretations lead to competing claims based on different tests and assumptions. This is not to say that the concept of valence is not useful and important. Valence voting increasingly represents one of the most popular explanations for electoral choice, and with good reason, as we will show. But with this increasing popularity comes a need for common concepts and measurement and for new strides in a field characterized by strong literatures which do not always speak the same language. This chapter highlights insights from the valence field as well as the problems in the many uses of the concept of valence. It seeks to offer syntheses, solutions and new directions.

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Contributors

Author: William Jennings

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