Party responsiveness and voter confidence in Australia
Party responsiveness and voter confidence in Australia
Numerous studies have shown that Australians have little confidence in their political parties. This article presents the results of a study investigating whether the responsiveness of Australian parties to what their voters want drives this lack of confidence. It analyses two aspects of party responsiveness: programmatic responsiveness in electoral manifestos and perceived responsiveness that centres on Australian voters’ assessment of how well their parties meet their demands. The analysis finds that programmatic responsiveness has no significant influence. Instead, how Australians perceive their parties to be responsive has a modest effect on their confidence in those parties. The study suggests that, however, it is incumbency which has the most powerful effect on voter confidence.
436-457
Werner, Annika
dcafc9c0-9649-427b-b550-04d03e3c0b24
30 August 2016
Werner, Annika
dcafc9c0-9649-427b-b550-04d03e3c0b24
Werner, Annika
(2016)
Party responsiveness and voter confidence in Australia.
Australian Journal of Political Science, 51 (3), .
(doi:10.1080/10361146.2016.1219692).
Abstract
Numerous studies have shown that Australians have little confidence in their political parties. This article presents the results of a study investigating whether the responsiveness of Australian parties to what their voters want drives this lack of confidence. It analyses two aspects of party responsiveness: programmatic responsiveness in electoral manifestos and perceived responsiveness that centres on Australian voters’ assessment of how well their parties meet their demands. The analysis finds that programmatic responsiveness has no significant influence. Instead, how Australians perceive their parties to be responsive has a modest effect on their confidence in those parties. The study suggests that, however, it is incumbency which has the most powerful effect on voter confidence.
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Accepted/In Press date: 26 June 2016
Published date: 30 August 2016
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 498127
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/498127
ISSN: 1036-1146
PURE UUID: 1ebb2edb-295e-494a-9e8d-4883df97bca7
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Date deposited: 10 Feb 2025 18:00
Last modified: 11 Feb 2025 03:17
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Author:
Annika Werner
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