Idiosyncratic Issue Opinion and Political Choice
What is the nature of mass opinion on public policies? And what role do citizens’ policy opinions play in their political choices? This book re-examines these questions, which lie at the heart of fundamental debates concerning whether democratic elections can make policymakers responsive to citizens...
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| Ձևաչափ: | Online |
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| Լեզու: | անգլերեն |
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Oxford University Press
2026
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| Առցանց հասանելիություն: | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/111397 |
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| _version_ | 1869521256190050304 |
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| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | What is the nature of mass opinion on public policies? And what role do citizens’ policy opinions play in their political choices? This book re-examines these questions, which lie at the heart of fundamental debates concerning whether democratic elections can make policymakers responsive to citizens’ policy preferences. Prevailing answers to these questions tend to reflect one of two contrasting perspectives. The ‘ideological voter’ account suggests that citizens’ opinions across different policies are ideologically organised, so that political choice reduces to comparing positions on a small number of ideological dimensions. This simplifies democratic policy responsiveness. The ‘innocent voter’ account suggests that most citizens lack meaningful policy opinions on most issues. They express policy opinions that lack stability and ideological organisation, except where they simply mimic the policies espoused by the parties they support. This severely limits democratic policy responsiveness. This book argues for a third perspective: an ‘idiosyncratic voter’ account. This says that citizens develop meaningful policy opinions on different sets of issues, but the combinations of opinions they form on those issues are often idiosyncratic rather than ideologically organised. An analysis of panel survey data from Britain shows that both the ideological and innocent voter accounts do explain important aspects of mass policy opinion and political choice. Nonetheless, idiosyncratic policy opinion is also widespread and significantly shapes political choices. This means that idiosyncratic opinion serves alongside ideological opinion as an additional starting point for democratic policy responsiveness. Yet it also means that electoral politics is highly multidimensional and therefore volatile. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-174167 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| publisherStr | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1741672026-03-19T14:54:08Z Idiosyncratic Issue Opinion and Political Choice Public opinion Political choice Political behaviour Policy opinion Issue opinion Ideology Opinion stability Idiosyncratic opinion Electoral politics British politics thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPP Public administration thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPA Political science and theory thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHF Elections and referenda / suffrage What is the nature of mass opinion on public policies? And what role do citizens’ policy opinions play in their political choices? This book re-examines these questions, which lie at the heart of fundamental debates concerning whether democratic elections can make policymakers responsive to citizens’ policy preferences. Prevailing answers to these questions tend to reflect one of two contrasting perspectives. The ‘ideological voter’ account suggests that citizens’ opinions across different policies are ideologically organised, so that political choice reduces to comparing positions on a small number of ideological dimensions. This simplifies democratic policy responsiveness. The ‘innocent voter’ account suggests that most citizens lack meaningful policy opinions on most issues. They express policy opinions that lack stability and ideological organisation, except where they simply mimic the policies espoused by the parties they support. This severely limits democratic policy responsiveness. This book argues for a third perspective: an ‘idiosyncratic voter’ account. This says that citizens develop meaningful policy opinions on different sets of issues, but the combinations of opinions they form on those issues are often idiosyncratic rather than ideologically organised. An analysis of panel survey data from Britain shows that both the ideological and innocent voter accounts do explain important aspects of mass policy opinion and political choice. Nonetheless, idiosyncratic policy opinion is also widespread and significantly shapes political choices. This means that idiosyncratic opinion serves alongside ideological opinion as an additional starting point for democratic policy responsiveness. Yet it also means that electoral politics is highly multidimensional and therefore volatile. 2026-03-19T14:54:08Z 2026-03-19T14:54:08Z 2026-03-11T15:40:17Z 2026 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/111397 9780198955214 9780198979951 9780198955245 9780198955221 9780198955238 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/174167 eng open access Oxford University Press 10.1093/9780198955245.001.0001 10.1093/9780198955245.001.0001 db4e319f-ca9f-449a-bcf2-37d7c6f885b1 9780198955214 9780198979951 9780198955245 9780198955221 9780198955238 296 Oxford open access |
| spellingShingle | Public opinion Political choice Political behaviour Policy opinion Issue opinion Ideology Opinion stability Idiosyncratic opinion Electoral politics British politics thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPP Public administration thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPA Political science and theory thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHF Elections and referenda / suffrage Idiosyncratic Issue Opinion and Political Choice |
| title | Idiosyncratic Issue Opinion and Political Choice |
| title_full | Idiosyncratic Issue Opinion and Political Choice |
| title_fullStr | Idiosyncratic Issue Opinion and Political Choice |
| title_full_unstemmed | Idiosyncratic Issue Opinion and Political Choice |
| title_short | Idiosyncratic Issue Opinion and Political Choice |
| title_sort | idiosyncratic issue opinion and political choice |
| topic | Public opinion Political choice Political behaviour Policy opinion Issue opinion Ideology Opinion stability Idiosyncratic opinion Electoral politics British politics thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPP Public administration thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPA Political science and theory thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHF Elections and referenda / suffrage |
| topic_facet | Public opinion Political choice Political behaviour Policy opinion Issue opinion Ideology Opinion stability Idiosyncratic opinion Electoral politics British politics thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPP Public administration thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPA Political science and theory thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes::JPHF Elections and referenda / suffrage |
| url | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/111397 |