A-peeling away the layers: Economic and cultural group appeals in Belgium

Despite the decreasing importance of traditional social cleavages, group-party alignments remain an important determinant of vote choice. By appealing to groups in their communication, political parties actively try to forge these alignments, signaling to the groups’ members and all their allies that they should vote for them. Through an analysis of party manifestos, this paper looks at the (re)alignment of group-party relations in Belgium between 1991-2024. If the traditional group-party alliances have dwindled over time, which groups are parties appealing to instead? Additionally, this paper looks at how parties stereotype groups in their appeals. Whereas previous studies have mostly limited their analyses to the explicitly positive or negative nature of appeals, the way a group is stereotyped is also an important cue for voters to navigate where parties stand. Focusing specifically on economic and cultural groups, this paper unveils the stereotypical attributes and issues parties associate with groups. In conclusion, this paper contributes to the understanding of group-party alignments in the context of Belgium and proposes a broader conceptualization of group appeals, beyond explicitly positive or negative statements.