Always a Bridesmaid: A Machine Learning Approach to Minor Party Identity in Multi-Party Systems
-
Laura French Bourgeois
,
Allison Harell
,
Laura Stephenson
,
Philippe Guay
Abstract
In multiparty systems, maintaining a distinct and positive partisan identity may be more difficult for those who identify with minor parties, because such parties lack the rich history of success that could reinforce a positive social standing in the political realm. Yet, we know little about the unique nature of minor partisan identities because partisanship tends to be most prominent in single-member plurality systems that tend toward two dominant parties, such as the United States. Canada provides a fascinating case of a single-member plurality electoral system that has consistently led to a multiparty system, ideal for studying minor party identity. We use large datasets of public opinion data, collected in 2019 and 2021 in Canada, to test a Lasso regression, a machine learning technique, to identify the factors that are the most important to predict whether partisans of minor political parties will seek in-group distinctiveness, meaning that they seek a different and positive political identity from the major political parties they are in competition with, or take part in out-group favouritism, meaning that they seek to become closer major political parties. We find that party rating is the most important predictor. The more partisans of the minor party rate their own party favourably, the more they take part in distinctiveness. We also find that the more minor party partisans perceive the major party as favourable, the more favouritism they will show towards the major party.
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- Always a Bridesmaid: A Machine Learning Approach to Minor Party Identity in Multi-Party Systems
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Tweedie Regression Analysis of Determinants of Birth Weight in Navrongo
- The Chinese Debt Trap Diplomacy Narrative: An Empirical Analysis
- A Social Constructionist Approach to Institutional Change: The Case of the Romanian Competition Council
- Conscription Reloaded? The Debate About Compulsory Service in Germany in 2022 and the Peoples’ Attitudes Towards It
- Always a Bridesmaid: A Machine Learning Approach to Minor Party Identity in Multi-Party Systems
- Commentary and Responses
- The Nexus between Federal Revenue and Spending in Canada: A Time-Frequency Perspective
