{"title":"Disaffected partisans who want a third party are just as polarized","authors":"Victor Y Wu, Joseph Bafumi","doi":"10.1177/13540688241249035","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Discontent with the Republican and Democratic parties has sparked widespread concerns about third-party vote splitting. However, few studies have measured the policy preferences of Republicans and Democrats who believe a third party is needed. Our survey addresses this gap in the literature. Across 14 issues, we compare the policy preferences of disaffected partisans who say a third party is needed and the preferences of partisans who do not. We provide evidence against the popular narrative that disaffected partisans converge towards a centrist or moderate third party. Our results show that disaffected partisans are just as polarized. Additionally, we confirm research showing most Americans — Republicans and Democrats alike — now say both parties are inadequate, and a third party is needed. This willingness to signal dissatisfaction with one’s own party may suggest that partisanship functions not as an expressive social identity, but as an instrumental reflection of personal ideological preferences.","PeriodicalId":48122,"journal":{"name":"Party Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Party Politics","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13540688241249035","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"POLITICAL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Discontent with the Republican and Democratic parties has sparked widespread concerns about third-party vote splitting. However, few studies have measured the policy preferences of Republicans and Democrats who believe a third party is needed. Our survey addresses this gap in the literature. Across 14 issues, we compare the policy preferences of disaffected partisans who say a third party is needed and the preferences of partisans who do not. We provide evidence against the popular narrative that disaffected partisans converge towards a centrist or moderate third party. Our results show that disaffected partisans are just as polarized. Additionally, we confirm research showing most Americans — Republicans and Democrats alike — now say both parties are inadequate, and a third party is needed. This willingness to signal dissatisfaction with one’s own party may suggest that partisanship functions not as an expressive social identity, but as an instrumental reflection of personal ideological preferences.
期刊介绍:
Political parties are intrinsic to every democratic political system, and with the dramatic changes that regularly sweep the political landscape, the study of their function and form is one of the most dynamic areas within contemporary scholarship. Party Politics is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the study of this integral component within political science. This major international journal provides a forum for the analysis of political parties, including their historical development, structure, policy programmes, ideology, electoral and campaign strategies, and their role within the various national and international political systems of which they are a part.