Absent Mandate? The Role of Positional Issues in Canadian Elections

Positional issues are political issues that generate disagreement among citizens and divide the electorate. Voting theories conventionally assume that positional issues have little effect on how individuals vote and that parties have little incentive to develop issue-based electoral strategies. Such a characterization of electoral dynamics is particularly prevalent in Canada. An enduring view holds that Canadian parties engage in "brokerage politics" wherein they avoid taking clear policy stances in order to avoid alienating segments of a fragmented electorate.This thesis challenges the conventional characterization of Canadian electoral dynamics by revisiting the role and impact of positional issues on electoral strategy. First, the results show that once measure- ment accuracy is improved and the heterogeneity of issue effects is taken into consideration, positional issues have non-negligible effects on individual vote choice. Second, the thesis demonstrates that the behaviour of Canadian political parties does not fully correspond to the brokerage party model. Parties can and do engage in behaviour prescribed by political marketing theory, to which positional issues are central. Positional issues are at the core of an exchange between citizens who care about a small set of issues and political parties who target these citizens using micro-campaigns. Ultimately, this thesis shows that political parties can use positional issues to increase their room for electoral manoeuvre.

Department dc:contributor.department

Political Science

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Dufresne, Yannick

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Nevitte, Neil

• Party behaviour
• Political information
• Political marketing
• Voting behaviour

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1807/69291

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/69291