Economic voting and political context: a comparative perspective

dBased on individual-level survey data collected in 13 European democracies, this study analyzes three alternative ways of modeling how political context affects the relationship between economic perceptions and vote intention. The three approaches are (I) institutional clarity of responsibility; (2) governing party target size; and (3) clarity of available alternatives. The results reveal that political context interacts with economic perceptions to affect voting behavior. When the institutional context clarifies who is in charge of policy making, when the target of credit and blame is large, and when citizens have fewer viable alternative choices, economic effects are stronger. Taken together, these findings suggest that voters' ability to express discontent with economic performance is enhanced when mechanisms of accountability are simple. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.