The link between separation and political party preference: selectivity or causal influence?

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Version: Author's accepted manuscript
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Serval ID
serval:BIB_798FABFBE0DC
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
The link between separation and political party preference: selectivity or causal influence?
Journal
Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties
Author(s)
Voorpostel Marieke, Coffe Hilde, Kuhn Ursina
ISSN
1745-7289
1745-7297
ISSN-L
1745-7289
Publication state
Published
Issued date
19/11/2018
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Pages
1-22
Language
english
Abstract
This paper studies the impact of separation from marital and cohabiting relationships on political party preferences. Relying on longitudinal data (1999–2017) from the Swiss Household Panel, it examines to what extent differences in party preferences between partnered and separated individuals are the result of a selection effect (with individuals who separate having different party preferences prior to their separation compared with partnered individuals) or of a causal effect (with individuals changing their party preferences following separation). The analyses show that partnered individuals are significantly more likely to support a party with Christian values (the CVP) compared with separated individuals, and indicate that this is due to a selection effect. For populist right (SVP) voting, we find a causal effect of separation. Interestingly, the event of separation increases the likelihood of supporting the populist right SVP. While separated individuals are more likely to support the social democratic party (PSS) than married individuals, we do not find a significant selection or causal effect of separation on support for the PSS. Overall, our results confirm the relevance of taking a dynamic approach distinguishing selection and causal effects and reveal that the effect of separation on voters’ party choice is modest but significant.
Keywords
Sociology and Political Science
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Create date
19/12/2018 11:09
Last modification date
21/08/2019 6:09
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