Does context matter – The impact of electoral systems, political parties and individual characteristics on voters' perceptions of party positions

This article aims to investigate under which circumstances policy representation can exist in terms of agreement in voters' perceptions of parties' left–right positions. The focal point in the study is on how voters' perceptions are affected not only by individual characteristics but also by various contextual factors related to the political parties and the political systems. With data from the CSES on individual voters and various system characteristics from election surveys in 32 countries, this article shows that what in earlier findings have appeared as national context effects rather are party effects when being decomposed. System related variables have only a small impact on voters' perceptions while the party- followed by the individually related variables exerted the greatest impact.

► Focus is on the impact of individual- and contextual factors on voters' perceptions.
► Data comes from CSES on individuals and system characteristics from 32 countries.
► The greatest impact is found from party, followed by individual, characteristics.
► System related variables have only a limited impact on voters' perceptions.
► National context effects seems in practice to be party effects when being decomposed.