How issue reputations shape electoral behaviour in European Parliamentary elections: Issue competence perceptions, attribution of responsibility, and electoral choice

Overview

This study examines the relationship between perceived party issue competence and electoral behavior in European Parliamentary elections, with specific attention to how multilevel governance structures condition voter decision-making. The research posits that voters consider not only partisan competence assessments but also their attributions of policymaking responsibility across governmental levels when formulating electoral preferences. The investigation centers on whether the salience and magnitude of competence effects vary as a function of clarity in responsibility attribution between European and national institutional levels.

Methods and approach

The analysis draws on survey data from the 2019 European Parliamentary elections across 10 countries, encompassing 7348 respondents. The study measures perceptions of party competence across four issue domains and cross-references these with voter attributions of responsibility to the European level versus the national level. The multilevel nature of governance is operationalized through examining whether competence effects are amplified when voters perceive European institutional responsibility as primary or attenuated when responsibility attributions are perceived as unclear or shared between governance levels. Statistical modeling assesses the conditional relationship between competence perceptions and electoral choice.

Key Findings

Competence perceptions demonstrate a significant effect on electoral choice in European Parliamentary elections. The conditional analysis reveals that for the specific issues of Europe and the economy, this effect is even more pronounced when voters attribute at least partial responsibility to the European level. The findings suggest that voters take into account their perceptions of institutional jurisdiction when evaluating parties in multilevel systems, with competence assessments being modulated based on responsibility attributions.

Implications

The results indicate that party competence represents a consequential determinant of electoral behavior in supranational elections. The research demonstrates that multilevel governance structures are not merely institutional features but cognitively salient factors that shape the mechanisms through which voters translate policy preferences into electoral decisions. These findings carry significance for understanding how voters navigate contexts of multilevel governance and attribute responsibility across governmental levels when making electoral choices.