Party responsiveness to party supporters, the electorate, and interest groups in a multidimensional policy space
2026-07-29
This article sheds new light on party responsiveness by considering the role of interest group pressure in parties’ responsiveness to their supporters and the electorate on multiple policy dimensions in 12 countries. Following recent work, we expect that parties are as responsive to shifts in their supporters’ preferences as to the wider electorate. Yet, parties also attend to interest group pressure. We argue that parties’ responsiveness to voters is enhanced by leadership ties with interest groups but that ties with only sectional groups are associated with more stable party positions. Combining data on voters, interest groups, and parties, our analysis shows that parties are responsive to preference change among their supporters and, further, that their policy positions are more stable when they only have ties with sectional groups. However, parties’ responsiveness on specific dimensions is not necessarily enhanced by leadership ties with the interest groups particularly active on those dimensions.