Comparative Public Opinion and Elections

This proposals has the support of the SG on Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour in a Comparative Perspective. There have been a number of methodological innovations and large scale data collection efforts such as the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems and the European Election Study that have advanced the comparative study of voting and public opinion. For this section, we ask paper givers to reflect on the status of this research and what it has told us about the health of democracy. What has the study of comparative public opinion and voting behaviour taught electoral scholars? What have large scale comparative electoral survey projects yielded in terms of important findings? We ask for papers that address how fundamental concepts such as competition and information are linked to the nature and dynamics of campaigns, media coverage, party systems and strategies, voter efficacy, political engagement and turnout, and political legitimacy. In particular we are interested in proposals that address the substantive themes of electoral competition, the role of social media in elections, information and voting behaviour, media systems. Proposals focused on applications of new methodologies or on critical approaches to existing methods are also strongly encouraged.