How protest voters choose

Political scientists have identified protest voting – voting for an anti-establishment party as a protest against mainstream politics – as a consequence of dissatisfaction with traditional political options. Yet we know little about what motivates people to cast a protest vote or why voters select o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inParty politics Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 110 - 125
Main Authors Birch, Sarah, Dennison, James
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.03.2019
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Campaigns
Demonstrations & protests
Elections
Green parties
Ideology
Independence
Political elites
Political parties
Political scientists
Politics
Ruling class
Voters
Voting
United Kingdom
electoral behaviour
Green Party of England and Wales
UK Independence Party
protest voting
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Summary:Political scientists have identified protest voting – voting for an anti-establishment party as a protest against mainstream politics – as a consequence of dissatisfaction with traditional political options. Yet we know little about what motivates people to cast a protest vote or why voters select one such protest option over another. Taking as its empirical referent the 2015 General Election in Great Britain, this article assesses the ‘protest choice’ in parliamentary democracies. We test three possible theoretical explanations for protest voting: ideology, mistrust of political elites and campaign effects. We find that the most important factors affecting protest choice are issue positions and campaign effects. The findings suggest that protest voting is a complex phenomenon that cannot be reduced to knee-jerk anti-politics reactions.
ISSN:1354-0688
1460-3683
DOI:10.1177/1354068817698857