Partisan Identification by Party Lean

Variable description

A commonly used set of survey items, these variables capture respondents’ partisan leanings by identifying the party to which they feel closest. Beyond formal party identification, they also account for weaker attachments by including respondents who do not initially report a party but indicate a preference in follow-up questions. To account for this, it is typically measured through a sequence of items asking about party identification and, if absent, prompting respondents to indicate whether they feel closer to one party than others.

Datasets & Variants

CSES

PARTY IDENTIFICATION (CLOSENESS)

E2002

Scale:
1 = Yes
2 = No
7/8/9 = Missing / Don’t know / Refusal

Wording:
‘Do you usually think of yourself as close to any particular political party?’

PARTY IDENTIFICATION – WHICH PARTY

E2003

Scale:
Country-specific party codes

Wording:
‘Which party do you feel closest to?’

PARTY LEANING (FOLLOW-UP FOR NON-IDENTIFIERS)

E2004

Scale:
Country-specific party codes + category for “no party”

Wording:
‘Do you feel yourself a little closer to one of the political parties than to the others? If so, which one?’

Measures

Measures that rely on these items: