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The formation of party preferences: Testing the proximity and directional models
Author(s) -
Blais André,
Nadeau Richard,
Gidengil Elisabeth,
Nevitte Neil
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
european journal of political research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.267
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1475-6765
pISSN - 0304-4130
DOI - 10.1111/1475-6765.00590
Subject(s) - perception , identification (biology) , test (biology) , control (management) , multivariate statistics , empirical research , third party , econometrics , psychology , social psychology , political science , positive economics , economics , computer science , artificial intelligence , statistics , mathematics , internet privacy , machine learning , paleontology , botany , neuroscience , biology
. We review the methodological debate between defenders of the proximity and directional models. We propose what we believe to be a rigorous and fair test of the two models, using the 1997 Canadian Election Study. The analysis is based on responses to questions in which the various issue positions are explicitly spelled out. We rely on individual perceptions of party positions because it is individual perceptions that matter in the formation of party preferences but we control for projection effects through a multivariate model that incorporates, in addition to indicators of distance and direction, socio–demographic characteristics, party identification, and leader ratings. We also take into account whether a party is perceived to be extreme. The empirical evidence vindicates the proximity model.