Influences on Citizens' Electoral System Preferences: A Comparative Study of Britain and New Zealand

Choosing electoral systems is no longer a task confined to political elites, as evidenced by the increasing number of popular referendums on electoral reform. While previous works that discussed determinants of citizens' electoral system preference have mostly relied on single case studies, this study examines this topic from a comparative perspective, analysing data from Britain and New Zealand in search of common factors that influence referendum vote. In addition to partisanship (large or small party identifier; supporter of major centre-right or centre-left party), satisfaction with democracy and cabinet type preference (single-party or coalition), results show that opinions on the key economic issues which have traditionally structured the ideological spectrum also exert a substantial impact.