Leadership and Voting: The Connection at the State Level
(2003) Leadership and Voting: The Connection at the State Level. Australian Journal of Political Science 38(3):pp. 465-478.
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Abstract
While it is now well established that Australian party leaders at the national level influence political choice in federal elections, little systematic study of the equivalent role that state premiers and opposition leaders might play has been undertaken. In the 2001 Australian Election Study (n=2010), questions were asked of a national probability sample of voters about respondent feelings towards their state premier and state opposition leader, in addition to equivalent questions about John Howard, Kim Beazley and other major political figures in federal politics. The data generated by this survey thus provide an opportunity to investigate the impact that contemporary state political leaders have on electoral choice. The analysis produces mixed results, but the findings show that state leaders generally do have an impact on voting behaviour in state elections, although in some cases this influence is eliminated when account is taken of voter attitudes towards the federal leaders. The analysis also affords an opportunity to test the extent of crossover between state and federal politics, in terms of how much state leaders influence federal voting and vice versa. While the results are somewhat uneven, they do indicate that some state leaders influence federal voting and that the federal leaders do influence voting in some states.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| RM Number: | 2004001908 |
| Status: | Published |
| Keywords: | Voting behaviour; state political leaders; Australian state politics |
| Subjects: | 360000 Policy and Political Science > 360100 Political Science > 360101 Australian Government and Politics 360000 Policy and Political Science > 360100 Political Science |
| ID Code: | 7432 |
| Deposited By: | Bean, Clive |
| Deposited On: | 01 May 2007 |
| Alternative Locations: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1036114032000133994 |
| Copyright Owner: | Copyright 2003 Taylor & Francis and Australasian Political Studies Association |
| Copyright Statement: | First published in: Australian Journal of Political Science, Volume 38, Issue 3 November 2003 , pages 465 - 478 |