15 results
Search Results
2. Fighting Fire with Fire: The Implications of (Not) Going Negative in a Multiparty Election Campaign.
- Author
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Roy, Jason and Alcantara, Christopher
- Subjects
- *
NEGATIVE campaigning , *ELECTIONS , *NEGATIVE advertising , *POLITICAL parties , *POLITICAL oratory , *VOTING , *TWENTY-first century , *PSYCHOLOGY ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
This paper draws upon data collected from an online voting experiment to test the implications of “going negative” in a multiparty election campaign. Specifically, we investigate two sets of questions: First, does the attention and vote share that candidates receive vary according to the tone (positive/negative) of their election campaign? Second, does the attention and vote share that candidates receive vary according to whether or not all candidates engage in similar (positive/negative) campaigns? While studies of “negative campaigning” have been prominent in the American context, our work builds upon this literature by using an experimental design to test for their effects in a multiparty setting. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. The 2006 and 2008 Canadian Federal Elections and Minority MPs.
- Author
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BLACK, JEROME H.
- Subjects
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MINORITY legislators , *MINORITY politicians , *POLITICAL participation of minorities , *ELECTIONS ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
This paper investigates how ethnoracial minorities fared in getting elected as MPs in the Canadian general elections of 2006 and 2008 -- an analysis guided by descriptive characterizations and interpretative themes discerned from studies of minority parliamentary representation over the 1993-2004 period. This paper also examines more specific categories that make up the minority population, thus allowing for perspectives on both inter-group differences and longitudinal effects. A key finding is that for minorities taken as a whole, as well as for the overall category of visible minorities, the 2006 and 2008 results fit an already-established pattern of quite modest increases in minority representation (as in 2006) interrupted by occasional decline (as in 2008). In addition, for both visible minorities as a group and for most of their constituent subcategories, the overwhelming evidence is of persisting representation deficits which are defined by MP percentages that are less than the corresponding population percentages. There is also evidence that the association of minority MPs with the Liberal party, observed as waning over the 1993-2004 period, continued to do so in 2006 and 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. Do (Some) Canadian Voters Punish a Prime Minister for Calling a Snap Election?
- Author
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Blais, André, Gidengil, Elisabeth, Neil Nevitte, and Nadeau, Richard
- Subjects
- *
VOTING , *ELECTIONS , *POLITICAL campaigns ,CANADIAN prime ministers ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
Are voters willing to punish a prime minister for calling an ‘unnecessary’ snap election for purely opportunistic reasons? This paper examines voters’ reactions to the Canadian prime minister's decision to call a snap election in November 2000. The decision provoked limited resentment, and that resentment was strongest among partisans of the opposition parties and among those who follow politics closely. Those who do not keep up with politics, it seems, either did not realize that the election was precipitous or simply did not care. The paper shows that resentment about the election call was a consideration in vote choice, but it was a decisive consideration for a very small group of voters. We estimate that the electoral cost to the incumbent Liberal Party was one percentage point. Some voters are prepared to punish prime ministers for opportunistically calling a snap election, but in this case the electoral penalty was small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. Canadian and American Voting Strategies: Does Institutional Socialization Matter?
- Author
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Roy, Jason and Singh, Shane
- Subjects
- *
INTERNET voting , *DECISION making in political science , *COMPARATIVE government , *SOCIALIZATION , *ELECTIONS ,UNITED States politics & government ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
This paper uses data from an online voting experiment to examine the impact of institutional socialization on the vote decision process. More specifically, we examine how Canadian and American voters differ in their vote decision processes in two- and four-party elections. Our expectation is that Canadian voters, who are more familiar with multiparty electoral context, will adjust to the increased complexity of the four-party competition by engaging in a more detailed decision process. Alternatively, we expect US voters, who are less familiar with multiparty competitions, will not undertake such an adjustment, perhaps even engaging in a less detailed vote calculus under more complex conditions. Results lend support to our expectations, offering insight into how institutional design and socialization can affect voter decision processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 2012
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. Who Says What: Election Coverage and Sourcing of Child Care in Four Canadian Dailies.
- Author
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Rauhala, A., Albanese, P., Ferns, C., Law, D., Haniff, A., and Macdonald, L.
- Subjects
- *
NEWSPAPERS , *CHILD care , *PRESS , *PUBLIC opinion , *SOCIAL skills , *TIME , *GOVERNMENT aid , *MEDICAL coding , *ECONOMICS ,CANADIAN elections ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
Advocates have called for universal, quality child care in Canada since the 1970s, but the issue seldom appeared to acquire political urgency. The 2006 election campaign seemed different. The governing Liberals promised to devote billions to a nascent national program. The Conservatives promised parents a cash allowance for young children. Child care seemed to be emerging as a significant issue in a political campaign. How was ECEC written about before, during and after Canadian election campaigns? Who is quoted and how? Our project mapped articles about child care in four major Canadian dailies between 2000 and 2008. We found that coverage spiked in 2000 and 2005-2006-during federal elections. Coverage nearly doubled in 2005-2006 in all but one paper. Using content analysis, we compared coverage of child care and sources in the 55 days before the start of campaigning, 55 days of campaigning, and 55 days following the 2006 election. We mapped and compared who said what, and how about child care policy and related issues, in Canada. We found: (1) that newspapers' ideological slants are apparent in their choice of sources and focus; and (2) that more importantly, despite ideological differences, political figures outnumbered activists, parents and child care providers. With only minor variations across the newspapers, the voices of parents and child care activists were marginal especially in the 55 days of campaigning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2012
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
7. Combining the Hazards of Ministerial Appointment AND Ministerial Exit in the Canadian Federal Cabinet.
- Author
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Kerby, Matthew
- Subjects
- *
LEGISLATIVE bodies , *CABINET officers , *ELECTIONS ,CANADIAN prime ministers ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
The Canadian federal cabinet stands out among Westminster parliamentary democracies because of the large number of first-time ministers who are appointed to cabinet without any previous parliamentary or political experience. Several explanations have been put forward to account for this peculiarity but no attempt has been made to examine how Canadian prime ministers overcome the information deficit associated with appointing ministers with no experience. How can prime ministers be confident that they are making the right choice? This paper explores the subject by estimating the survival functions of ministerial turnover for potential, but not yet appointed, cabinet ministers were they to survive to a defined political benchmark; these survival rates are included in a logit model of Canadian ministerial appointment following four general elections (1957, 1979, 1984 and 2006) in which the prime minister was tasked with appointing a cabinet with ministerial neophytes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
8. The Effects of Information and Social Cleavages: Explaining Issue Attitudes and Vote Choice in Canada.
- Author
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Bittner, Amanda
- Subjects
- *
VOTING , *ELECTIONS , *SOCIAL groups , *GROUP decision making ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between social group identity and the level of political information in explaining Canadians' issue attitudes and vote choices. Traditional accounts of Canadians' partisan political leanings have placed a great deal of emphasis on social group identity in explaining attitudes. However based on data from the Canadian Election Studies from 1988-2004, it is argued that both social group identity and information influence the nature of vote choice and public opinion in Canada. In fact, the level of voter information has two contradictory effects on the political attitudes of different social groups. In some cases voters' level of information reduces the role of social group identity in explaining attitudes and vote choices; information acts to bridge the differences between different social groups (for example Catholics/non-Catholics and urban/rural Canadians). In other cases, voters' level of information acts to amplify the importance of social group identity in predicting attitudes (for example women/men and religious/nonreligious). These findings suggest that not only is social group identity a less effective predictor of attitudes than has traditionally been thought but that there are also significant underlying differences between the so-called "old" and "new" cleavages in Canada when it comes to understanding their impact on political values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2007
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
9. How Voters Perceive and Evaluate the Prime Minister's Role in a Scandal: A Panel Study.
- Author
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Blais, André, Gidengil, Elisabeth, Fournier, Patrick, Nevitte, Neil, and Everitt, Joanna
- Subjects
- *
PRIME ministers , *ELECTIONS , *VOTERS ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
We examine voters' perceptions and evaluations of the Prime Minister's role in a major scandal, the "sponsorship scandal" that erupted in Canada in February 2004. We use the campaign waves of the 2004 and 2006 Canadian Election Studies (CES) and we focus on panel respondents who were interviewed in both waves. We analyze their perceptions of the Prime Minister's knowledge of the affair and their assessments of his handling of the issue and we ascertain how predispositions and level of information affected voters' reactions. We show that party identification strongly shaped voters' evaluations, and that the effect endured over two elections and was mostly direct, that is, largely unmediated by perceptions. There was little difference between the better and the less informed in 2004 but by 2006 the better informed were more prone to revisit their initial harsh judgments and to believe that the PM might have been unaware of the wrongdoing and had done a good job of dealing with the issue. Evaluations of the PM's performance were strongly influenced by perceptions of his awareness of the affair. Finally the verdict of the Commission of inquiry (that the PM should be exonerated from any blame) had only a marginal impact on voters' perceptions and judgments. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006
10. The RAS Model: A Simple Test.
- Author
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Dobrzynska, Agnieszka and Blais, André
- Subjects
- *
ELECTIONS , *COMMERCIAL policy , *CANADA-United States relations ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
The article presents a proposal of a simple and direct test of the Receive-Accept-Sample (RAS) model. It deals with the 1988 Canadian election, which was fought over one central issue, which is the Free Trade Accord with the U.S. It focuses on the influential theory of opinion formation, formulated by John Zaller in 1992.
- Published
- 2005
11. Survey Structure, Measurement Effects, and the Evaluation of Party Leaders.
- Author
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Bittner, Amanda
- Subjects
- *
POLITICAL leadership , *ELECTIONS , *POLITICAL parties , *PERSONALITY ,CANADIAN politics & government ,UNITED States politics & government - Abstract
Comparative study of the impact of party leaders and their personality traits on election outcomes is diverse and non-cumulative-it has followed a number of directions, and the literature is conflicted in almost all of these areas. One of the main branches within the leaders literature focuses on the evaluation of personality traits, and scholars are unable to agree about which traits voters take note of; whether traits actually affect election outcomes; if they do which are more important; and why or how traits are evaluated in the first place. When one looks more closely at the literature, it becomes clear that what is needed is a larger comparative analysis that incorporates election studies across time and space, in order to be able to make more definitive conclusions about the role of leader evaluations. However, one of the challenges to this endeavor stems from the nature of the data available. Different traits are included in different election studies over time, and often even where trait continuity does exist, the question format changes, making comparability over time and across space very difficult. This paper examines the impact of question format, using pooled data from election studies conducted in two countries, Canada and the United States. The analysis suggests that question format does indeed have an effect on respondents' evaluations of party leaders, but more research is needed before we can make conclusions about the implications of these effects for the comparative study of the role of leaders. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2007
12. Mass Media and Public Opinion in Canada: The State of Healthcare.
- Author
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Blidook, Kelly
- Subjects
- *
MEDICAL care , *ELECTIONS , *MASS media ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
The issue of healthcare has been dominant in recent Canadian elections and has remained a key issue on the policy agenda beyond elections. This paper aims to expose media framing effects on public perceptions of the actual state of healthcare. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006
13. Does Turning Up Turnout Turn Down Electoral Bias? Recent Evidence from the United States and Canada.
- Author
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Martinez, Michael D.
- Subjects
- *
ELECTIONS , *POLITICAL participation , *VOTING ,UNITED States politics & government ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
In 2004, election turnout rates in the United States and Canada started to converge, in part due to an increase in interest which led to higher turnout in the United States, and in part due to a generational-induced decline in turnout in Canada. Based on the theory that higher rates of participation are commonly associated with lower socioeconomic bias in participation (Lijphart, APSR 1997), I will use National Election Studies data from both countries to examine whether the recent changes in turnout levels have resulted in lower turnout bias in the United States and higher turnout bias in Canada (using standard SES variables). Possible partisan consequences will be discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2007
14. The Nature and Effects of Advance Voting in Canada.
- Author
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Loewen, Peter
- Subjects
- *
VOTING , *ELECTIONS , *POLITICAL attitudes , *POLITICAL participation ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
I examine advance voting in the 2004 Canadian election. Advance voters differ from normal voters, and some parties do better than others in advance voting. But, advance voting success does not predict victory and likely does not change outcomes. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006
15. Election Campaign Polling and the Media: Where Did It Go Wrong in 2004?
- Author
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Pickup, Mark and Johnston, Richard
- Subjects
- *
ELECTIONS , *REALIGNMENT (Political science) , *MASS media , *COMMUNICATION ,CANADIAN politics & government - Abstract
The campaign polls during the 2004 Canadian federal election and the media coverage of those polls are examined to determine how the predicted outcome of the election could be so wrong. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006
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