EU mobilization and party support: An analysis of EU issue voting in the European elections

Abstract

Speakers: Luca Carrieri, Nicolò Conti Discussant: Giuseppe Carteny Our research analyzes the impact of the EU party-voter distance on party support. To this goal, we focus on the party-voter dyad and we analyze patterns of EU issue voting in the European elections. We make use of a combination of data from CHES and EES. We show that voters are mobilized on the EU, with EU party positions operating as a driving factor of the voting preferences of the electorate, with a differentiated impact on the pro-European and the Eurosceptic parties. Finally, we demonstrate that, in the EU countries, the EU conflict consistently contributed to determining the voting preferences of citizens and to aggregating election results.