scholarly journals Universe of Support: Suburban Voters in Canadian Federal Elections

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33
Author(s):  
Seeon Smith

This chapter reviews the position of suburban voters within Canadian federal elections. In response to the impression that federal elections are won and lost in the greater Toronto area I ask - how do suburban voters factor into the campaign strategies of political parties? I examine the significance of suburban voters, emphasizing those in Toronto, as a contested demographic. I draw attention to the allocation of campaign resources through analysis of the 2019 party leader tours of the Liberals, Conservatives, and New Democrats. This is supplemented by an analysis of party platforms from 2008, 2011, 2015, and 2019 as a measure of campaign marketing. In doing so, I seek to address the nature of Canadian elections and normatively reflect on the consequences of this nature.

Asian Survey ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 969-990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kushner

How do political parties in developing countries, without access to accurate polling data, understand their voters? I examine the role that various sources of information play in political party platforms, and how the method of data collection affects parties’ policy and political efforts, primarily by using interview data from 2012 and 2013 with workers from four leading parties in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. I theorize the role of party workers as a key conduit for information between party leaders and the voters they represent.


Significance This comes after the sudden resignation of Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner as head of the OeVP, announced on May 10, precipitated a government crisis. His successor as party leader, 30-year-old Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, two days later unilaterally declared the collapse of the grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPOe) live on television, demanding a snap parliamentary election. Impacts Kurz is likely to represent a more critical line on the EU, pushing for reforms. Bad blood between the SPOe and the OeVP could open the door for a coalition with the FPOe even if it incurs losses. As in France, there is a trend towards personality politics in a country where political parties have traditionally been dominant.


2007 ◽  
Vol 362 (1485) ◽  
pp. 1711-1721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Laver ◽  
Michel Schilperoord

Two important human action selection processes are the choice by citizens of parties to support in elections and the choice by party leaders of policy ‘packages’ offered to citizens in order to attract this support. Having reviewed approaches analysing these choices and the reasons for doing this using the methodology of agent-based modelling, we extend a recent agent-based model of party competition to treat the number and identity of political parties as an output of, rather than an input to, the process of party competition. Party birth is modelled as an endogenous change of agent type from citizen to party leader, which requires describing citizen dissatisfaction with the history of the system. Endogenous birth and death of parties transforms into a dynamic system even in an environment where all agents have otherwise non-responsive adaptive rules. A key parameter is the survival threshold, with lower thresholds leaving citizens on average less dissatisfied. Paradoxically, the adaptive rule most successful for party leaders in winning votes makes citizens on average less happy than under other policy-selection rules.


Author(s):  
Namig MAMMADOV

This article examines and analyzes the history of the formation and development of the National Outlook Movement in Turkey, its ideology and social base and the main driving forces, as well as the main political parties and their activities. The article also analyzes the historical circumstances that influenced the formation and development of the movement, including the role of the movement's leader, prominent scientist and researcher, professor Najmeddin Erbakan, as well as the reasons for his entry into the political arena and its consequences. The role of N. Erbakan in the political life of Turkey was investigated and tried to be evaluated. It was noted that, the main ideology of the National Outlook parties is a free market economy without interest, the strengthening of production, the establishment of a just society in which basic human rights are protected, and so on.The first openly political Islamist political party in Turkish history was the National Order Party, formed on January 30, 1970. However, the party did not last long and was closed in 1971 by a decision of the Constitutional Court. Instead, party representatives formed the National Salvation Party in October 1972. This party, like all other political parties in Turkey, was closed after the 1980 coup. However, it became a partner of the government for the first time, and one of the most important decisions of this government was send of Turkish forces to Cyprus.With the permission of the National Security Council, the Welfare Party (WP) was formed in 1983 under the leadership of Ahmet Tekdal, representing the same direction. After the lifting of political bans, N. Erbakan was re-elected party leader. The 1990s marked a new stage in the development of the National Outlook movement. The Welfare Party's reputation began to rise. In the 1995 elections, the party won 21 percent of the vote. In 1996, N. Erbakan formed a coalition government with the True Path Party, led by Tansu Chiller. This government resigned as a result of the February 28 process, and the party was dissolved. The members of the party formed the Virtue Party. Disagreements between innovative and conservative groups within the party led to the formation of two political parties, the Justice and Development Party and the Felicity Party, after the party was dissolved in 2001.


Significance Although a victory in the short term for Abbott, the narrow margin will only intensify doubts about his long-term prospects as party leader and as prime minister. The challenge continues a trend of instability across Australia's main political parties. The country is poised to enter a record 25th year of uninterrupted economic growth, yet has changed prime minister four times since 2007. Impacts Australia will remain one of the most robust developed economies throughout 2015, with growth rates far above those of the EU. The Reserve Bank's decision to cut interest rates indicates that there are worries of the impact of the China-induced mining slowdown. Concerns in state capitals about housing bubbles will grow and may be an issue in the next federal election.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Kristin Kölln ◽  
Jonathan Polk

Party members across European democracies exercise increasing influence on parties’ policy platforms or personnel choices. This article investigates ideological (in)congruence on the left–right spectrum between members and their parties by drawing on a party membership survey of more than 10,000 individuals across seven political parties in Sweden. The results show that around two-thirds of members are not perfectly congruent with their party. In a two-step analysis, the article argues that emancipated members, with higher political interest and with a more independent self-conception, are more comfortable being ideologically incongruent with their party. We also provide evidence that ideological incongruence matters for members’ exit, voice and loyalty behaviour. It is associated with a more negative evaluation of the party leader (voice) and with a higher probability to either vote for another party (loyalty) or even to leave the current one (exit). The findings indicate that ideological incongruence within parties is not a trivial matter, but is rather substantial in size with potentially important consequences for party competition.


Author(s):  
Audrey Gagnon ◽  
Lindsay Larios

Abstract Open political debate on immigration and integration policies (IIP) among Canadian political parties has been relatively limited. As Canada's immigration and integration systems become more decentralized, what about political debates about IIP in Canadian provinces? This article examines how IIP evolved across time by focusing on political parties’ claims, frames and pledges in party platforms and newspapers, using the cases of Ontario and Quebec. In Ontario, IIP were primarily framed as an economic and social resource. However, following the event of 9/11, new frames began to be introduced, contributing to a heightened salience and polarization. In contrast to Quebec, however, this politicization was not sustained. In Quebec, IIP were only marginally a matter of debate until the mid-2000s. This changed following the Hérouxville event, as these topics became salient, and dominant frames of immigration as economic and social resources were challenged by those of immigration as economic and cultural threats.


Author(s):  
Diana Owen

New media have been playing an increasingly central role in American elections since they first appeared in 1992. While television remains the main source of election information for a majority of voters, digital communication platforms have become prominent. New media have triggered changes in the campaign strategies of political parties, candidates, and political organizations; reshaped election media coverage; and influenced voter engagement. This chapter examines the stages in the development of new media in elections from the use of rudimentary websites to the rise sophisticated social media. It discusses the ways in which new media differ from traditional media in terms of their form, function, and content; identifies the audiences for new election media; and examines the effects on voter interest, knowledge, engagement, and turnout. Going forward, scholars need to employ creative research methodologies to catalogue and analyze new campaign media as they emerge and develop.


Author(s):  
Diana Owen

New media have been playing an increasingly central role in American elections since they first appeared in 1992. While television remains the main source of election information for a majority of voters, digital communication platforms have become prominent. New media have triggered changes in the campaign strategies of political parties, candidates, and political organizations; reshaped election media coverage; and influenced voter engagement. This chapter examines the stages in the development of new media in elections from the use of rudimentary websites to the rise sophisticated social media. It discusses the ways in which new media differ from traditional media in terms of their form, function, and content; identifies the audiences for new election media; and examines the effects on voter interest, knowledge, engagement, and turnout. Going forward, scholars need to employ creative research methodologies to catalogue and analyze new campaign media as they emerge and develop.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document