Measuring issue salience in British elections: competing interpretations of “most important issue”
Measuring issue salience in British elections: competing interpretations of “most important issue”
This article is about responses to the "most important issue" question used in numerous election polls and surveys. Following Wlezien's work, two interpretations of the question can be sketched: (1) personal (the issue most important to the respondent) and (2) contextual (the issue that respondents perceive as topping the national political agenda). Using British Election Study data from 2005, the author shows that issues prominent in that campaign were often cited as most important by respondents who were neither particularly knowledgeable about those issues nor particularly influenced by them when voting. In sum, the contextual interpretation predominates. Hence, whatever else it is, "most important issue" is not an accurate gauge of salience effects in models of vote choice.
British elections, Issue salience, Issue voting, Valence politics
143-158
Johns, Robert
02861bc9-b704-49b1-bbc7-cf1c1e9b7a35
March 2010
Johns, Robert
02861bc9-b704-49b1-bbc7-cf1c1e9b7a35
Johns, Robert
(2010)
Measuring issue salience in British elections: competing interpretations of “most important issue”.
Political Research Quarterly, 63 (1), .
(doi:10.1177/1065912908325254).
Abstract
This article is about responses to the "most important issue" question used in numerous election polls and surveys. Following Wlezien's work, two interpretations of the question can be sketched: (1) personal (the issue most important to the respondent) and (2) contextual (the issue that respondents perceive as topping the national political agenda). Using British Election Study data from 2005, the author shows that issues prominent in that campaign were often cited as most important by respondents who were neither particularly knowledgeable about those issues nor particularly influenced by them when voting. In sum, the contextual interpretation predominates. Hence, whatever else it is, "most important issue" is not an accurate gauge of salience effects in models of vote choice.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 15 October 2008
Published date: March 2010
Keywords:
British elections, Issue salience, Issue voting, Valence politics
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Local EPrints ID: 489793
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/489793
ISSN: 1065-9129
PURE UUID: 8f61be2e-82d2-4eb6-b03d-cbb9854d9bf1
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Date deposited: 02 May 2024 16:37
Last modified: 03 May 2024 02:07
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Author:
Robert Johns
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