The company makes the feast : party constellations, campaign context and issue voting in multi-party systems

Abstract

Political parties in multi-party systems find themselves in varying patterns of agreement and disagreement over contested issues with their competitors. This article investigates the cross-pressures on voting behavior emanating from constellations of party conflict that contradict voters’ preferences. We argue that the campaign context is a key moderator of citizens’ responses to this type of cross-pressure: Before the beginning of an election campaign, voters are more likely to process information about inconvenient party constellations and adjust their preferences. During an ongoing campaign, however, voters will discard such issue information in favor of pre-established preferences. We find support for our theory in an experimental study about issue conflict over the scope of European integration and voting behavior in Germany, on the occasion of the elections to the European Parliament in May 2014.