"Do we care more when we think differently?" - On the relationship between Ideological Polarisation and Voter Turnout

Sammanfattning

Polarisation is a hotly discussed and eagerly researched topic these days. This research specifically examines the effects of one type of polarisation: Ideological Polarisation on voter turnout. It does so by measuring the average ideological distance between all parties in European multiparty systems between 1999-2021 and correlating this to voter turnout in elections. Two of the ideological measurements are one-dimensional, while one is two-dimensional. Results show that ideological polarisation correlates with turnout on a simple level, not taking other factors into account. Additionally, party competition was likely centrifugal in most European countries during this time period. However, research also shows that other variables such as GDP per capita, Gini-index or geographical location correlate more strongly with voter turnout than ideological polarisation. Multivariate models confirm that the impact of ideological polarisation on voter turnout is miniscule at best, if statistically significant.