Evaluating the Electoral Effects of Traditional and Modern Modes of Constituency Campaigning in Britain 1992-2005

Fisher, Justin; Denver, David

doi:10.1093/pa/gsn051

Cited by 61 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Previous studies on voter turnout and party canvassing highlight that interpersonal campaign efforts are more effective in mobilizing citizens to vote than impersonal party contact (e.g., Fisher & Denver, 2009; Fisher et al, 2015; Gerber & Green, 2000; Green & Gerber, 2015; Marsh, 2004). However, the findings on the impact of canvassing on voting preferences are rather contradictory.…”

Section: Media and Party Communication Effects On Changes In Voting Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some studies conclude that neither interpersonal nor impersonal canvassing affects voting preferences (e.g., Denver & Hands, 1997; Kramer, 1970; Magalhães, 2007). Yet, other research suggests that citizens indeed respond to the respective parties’ canvassing efforts by voting for these parties, especially when they have been contacted interpersonally (e.g., Fisher & Denver, 2009; Fisher et al, 2015; Górecki & Marsh, 2012, 2014; Johnston & Pattie, 2003; Lefebvre, 2014; Pattie & Johnston, 2003). …”

Section: Media and Party Communication Effects On Changes In Voting Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Intra-Campaign Changes in Voting Preferences: The Impact of Media and Party Communication

Johann

Königslöw

Kritzinger

et al. 2017

Political Communication

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An increasing number of citizens change and adapt their party preferences during the electoral campaign. We analyze which short-term factors explain intra-campaign changes in voting preferences, focusing on the visibility and tone of news media reporting and party canvassing. Our analyses rely on an integrative data approach, linking data from media content analysis to public opinion data. This enables us to investigate the relative impact of news media reporting as well as party communication. Inherently, we overcome previously identified methodological problems in the study of communication effects on voting behavior. Our findings reveal that campaigns matter: Especially interpersonal party canvassing increases voters’ likelihood to change their voting preferences in favor of the respective party, whereas media effects are limited to quality news outlets and depend on individual voters’ party ambivalence.

show abstract

Section: Media and Party Communication Effects On Changes In Voting Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Media and Party Communication Effects On Changes In Voting Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra-Campaign Changes in Voting Preferences: The Impact of Media and Party Communication

Johann

Königslöw

Kritzinger

et al. 2017

Political Communication

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Fisher and Denver, 2009), there is precious little on how political parties recruit members and supporters. We need to draw from the existing literature on recruitment and participation in social movements and their analysis of the professionalisation of the sector.…”

Section: The Diagnosis and The Cure: A Crisis Of Traditional Form Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…14 Such as the belief (however delusional) in policy efficacy through conference deliberation in Labour or identification with the imagined community of the party as a family of brothers and sisters (FaucherKing, 2005). 15 Successive studies have demonstrated the importance of local (and traditional) campaigning in delivering votes, and hence the renewed interest in voluntary workers (Denver et al, 2004;J. Fisher and Denver, 2009).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

New forms of political participation. Changing demands or changing opportunities to participate in political parties?

Faucher

2014

Comp Eur Polit

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the past 30 years, party membership has dropped significantly across Europe, whereas other forms of political participation have developed. I first show how political parties have sought to be more attractive by lowering the cost of membership and creating new selective incentives (such as the right to vote in internal ballots), leading to a convergence of party rules across European parties. To understand the logic behind such reforms, one needs to take into account the broader political context and I focus on the United Kingdom to show how competition between and within parties provided the justification for changes that mostly aligned them with organisational myths. The third part argues that such changes in opportunities to participate in political parties contribute to explain why membership has continued to fall. This article draws on extensive qualitative research (including my own) conducted in and on political parties in the United Kingdom and France to provide a new account of membership recruitment crisis that contrasts with the traditional emphasis on supply/demand.

show abstract

“…The data, while valuable, therefore contain major temporal and geographical gaps. An alternative survey-based approach has been to canvass parties' local election agents immediately after General Elections, asking them for information on their campaign activities Hands, 1997, 1998;Denver et al, 2003;Fisher and Denver, 2009;Fieldhouse and Cutts 2009). Agent surveys have been conducted at every UK General Election since 1992, giving rather better temporal coverage than party member surveys.…”

Section: Measuring Parties' Local Resource Basesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resourcing the constituency campaign in the UK

Pattie

Johnston

2015

Party Politics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:First-past-the-post electoral rules create strong incentives for parties to focus their campaigns on key marginal seats and much research has been devoted to the vote-winning potential of such activity. Less attention has been given to local party organisations' ability to mount these campaigns, however. We therefore examine recent evidence of British political parties' local campaigning capacities. Overall, Britain's grassroots party organisations are struggling. While some local parties are resource-rich, many are not: only half of all Conservative and fewer than one in six Labour and Liberal Democrat constituency parties had an annual turnover in 2010 exceeding £25,000. Many local parties are seriously underresourced: funds are limited, donations meagre, and members few. For most local parties, campaign resources depend primarily on their own local fund-raising initiatives -but their yields tend to be low. Even in key marginal constituencies, many local parties increasingly struggle to resource their campaign activities. What is more, there are substantial variations between the various political parties in the relative health of their constituency operations, and in the national parties' abilities to subsidise local activities in strategically important seats. The implications for local voter mobilization efforts in the UK are not good. Ron Johnston is Professor of Geography at Bristol University. He has written prolifically on various aspects of urban geography, the history of geography and political geography, particularly on electoral issues. Resourcing the constituency campaign in the UK Abstract First-past-the-post electoral rules create strong incentives for parties to focus their campaigns on key marginal seats and much research has been devoted to the vote-winning potential of such activity. Less attention has been given to local party organisations' ability to mount these campaigns, however. We therefore examine recent evidence of British political parties' local campaigning capacities. Overall, Britain's grassroots party organisations are struggling. While some local parties are resource-rich, many are not: only half of all Conservative and fewer than one in six Labour and Liberal Democrat constituency parties had an annual turnover in 2010 exceeding £25,000. Many local parties are seriously under-resourced: funds are limited, donations meagre, and members few. For most local parties, campaign resources depend primarily on their own local fund-raising initiatives -but their yields tend to be low. Even in key marginal constituencies, many local parties increasingly struggle to resource their campaign activities. What is more, there are substantial variations between the various political parties in the relative health of their constituency operations, and in the national parties' abilities to subsidise local activities in strategically important seats. The implications for local voter mobilization efforts in the UK are not good.

show abstract

Evaluating the Electoral Effects of Traditional and Modern Modes of Constituency Campaigning in Britain 1992-2005

Cited by 61 publications

References 0 publications

Intra-Campaign Changes in Voting Preferences: The Impact of Media and Party Communication

Intra-Campaign Changes in Voting Preferences: The Impact of Media and Party Communication

New forms of political participation. Changing demands or changing opportunities to participate in political parties?

Resourcing the constituency campaign in the UK

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About