Does disability affect support for political parties?

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

December 1, 2024

Summary:

While it is well-established that disability reduces the probability of electoral turnout, far less is known about the relationship between disability and support for particular political parties. Using nationally representative longitudinal data from Understanding Society we explore the relationship between disability and party support in England and Wales along left-right and protest dimensions. Consistent with our hypotheses, analysis of cross-sectional data suggests that, after accounting for demographic characteristics, disabled people are significantly less likely to support parties to the right and more likely to support protest parties. In contrast, however, after accounting for time invariant individual unobserved heterogeneity using panel data methods, we find no evidence of a relationship between disability and left-right party support, and far less evidence of a relationship with protest parties. We discuss and attempt to reconcile these findings.

Published in

Electoral Studies

Volume

Volume: 92:102881

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2024.102881

ISSN

02613794

Subjects

Notes

Open Access

Under a Creative Commons license

#588634

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