Most studies on the relation between voter preference and the assessment of government performance thus far have been focused on the national level. Nevertheless it is important also to take into account the occurrence of this mechanism on other levels of government. In this paper, we analyse the impact of satisfaction with local government on voting behaviour during the October 2012 local elections in Belgium. The analysis is based on an exit poll that was conducted on the day of the elections (n=4,325). Most importantly, we argue that the assessment of the performance of the local government is the main factor to explain why voters deviate from their national political preference, in order to support a different political party at the local level.
