Party Identification and the Economy in Europe: A Literature Review

Abstract

As one of the strongest determinants of the vote choice of United States citizens, party identification has been the object of extensive scholarly attention. Despite fifty years of research, its place in the funnel of causality and its applicability outside the United States remains unclear. In this literature review, we discuss the most influential articles about these two unsolved questions. Furthermore, we evaluate whether propensity-to-vote data can enrich our understanding of European partisanship and its relationship with citizens’ evaluation of the economy.