Context and Political Knowledge: Explaining Cross-National Variation in Partisan Left-Right Knowledge

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dc.citation.firstpage1211
dc.citation.issueNumber4
dc.citation.journalTitleThe Journal of Politics
dc.citation.lastpage1228
dc.citation.volumeNumber78
dc.contributor.authorFortunato, David
dc.contributor.authorStevenson, Randolph T.
dc.contributor.authorVonnahme, Greg
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-19T19:09:40Z
dc.date.available2017-05-19T19:09:40Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.description.abstractWe present a theory that links variation in aggregate levels of political knowledge across countries and over time to corresponding differences in the political context in which voters become (or do not become) informed. Specifically, we argue that the level of partisan left-right knowledge in a given context ultimately depends on how useful the left-right metaphor is for organizing, simplifying, or otherwise facilitating voters’ understanding of political processes. Using survey data on the distribution of left-right knowledge in 59 different contexts (in 18 countries), our analysis reveals that voters understand the relative left-right positioning of parties to a much greater degree when these positions are important predictors of the composition of policy-making coalitions, but that variation in this knowledge does not correspond to the accuracy with which the relative left-right positions of parties predicts more narrow policy positions.
dc.identifier.citationFortunato, David, Stevenson, Randolph T. and Vonnahme, Greg. "Context and Political Knowledge: Explaining Cross-National Variation in Partisan Left-Right Knowledge." <i>The Journal of Politics,</i> 78, no. 4 (2016) The University of Chicago Press: 1211-1228. https://doi.org/10.1086/686689.
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1086/686689
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/94300
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherThe University of Chicago Press
dc.rightsArticle is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
dc.subject.keywordcoalition politics
dc.subject.keywordpolitical institutions
dc.subject.keywordpolitical knowledge
dc.titleContext and Political Knowledge: Explaining Cross-National Variation in Partisan Left-Right Knowledge
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.publicationpublisher version
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