CONSISTENCY AND INCONSISTENCY IN CANADIAN PARTY IDENTIFICATIONS - TOWARDS AN INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH

Studies of the Canadian electorate have revealed a far more fluid pattern to party identification than might be expected from using the Michigan approach. Voters not only change identifications relatively frequently they also may possess different identifications for each level of government-federal and provincial. This paper explores these patterns by examining in greater detail the relationship between federal and provincial party identifications. We find that the two sets of identifications are interrelated in a manner which suggests an underlying system to party identification formation that in turn raises the question of the importance of institutional factors to mass behaviour. © 1990.