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Personality traits and party identification over time
Author(s) -
Bakker Bert N.,
Hopmann David Nicolas,
Persson Mikael
Publication year - 2015
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 - 10.1111/1475-6765.12070
Subject(s) - big five personality traits , personality , identification (biology) , german , politics , psychology , social psychology , sample (material) , political science , law , history , chemistry , botany , archaeology , chromatography , biology
Why do some people stably identify with a party while others do not? This study tests whether and how the direction, stability and strength of party identification are associated with big five personality traits, using panel data from a representative sample of German citizens. First, the study confirms that personality traits are related to identification with different political parties. Second, it moves beyond previous research by showing that personality traits are related to the strength and variation in party identification over time. The implications of the study for the classical perspectives on party identification, as well as the personality and politics literature, are discussed.