When the chickens come home to roost: The long-term impact of party positions on religious voting

Gomez, Raul (2022) When the chickens come home to roost: The long-term impact of party positions on religious voting. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, 61 (2). pp. 566-585.

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Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Despite the widespread secularisation of West European societies, research has only found mixed evidence of a decline in the influence of religion on people's electoral preferences. A relatively recent line of inquiry has adopted a ‘top‐down’ approach to this problem, arguing that the impact of religion not only depends on structural social changes, but also on parties’ convergence on moral issues. Drawing upon this ‘top‐down’ approach and the ‘impressionable years’ model, this article argues that parties’ political strategies aimed at (de‐)mobilising social cleavages have a lasting effect on voters’ party preferences. Using nine rounds of the European Social Survey for 19 West European countries, I find the impact of religiosity on voting for the centre‐right (Conservative and Christian Democratic parties) to be significantly smaller for voters who were exposed during emerging adulthood (aged 15–25) to a centre‐right party that adopted similar positions on moral issues to those of its main competitors. These findings have important implications because they highlight the role of generational replacement in bringing about electoral change, even when this is prompted by parties’ strategic choices.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	religion, generational replacement, moral issues, conservative parties, vote
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	18 May 2021 07:00
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2023 03:00
DOI:	10.1111/1475-6765.12462
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12462
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3123051

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• When the chickens come home to roost. The long-term impact of party positions on religious voting. (deposited 10 May 2021 10:30)
  • When the chickens come home to roost: The long-term impact of party positions on religious voting. (deposited 18 May 2021 07:00) [Currently Displayed]