Beating Issue Agreement: Congruence in the Representational Preferences of Candidates and Voters

Using the Finnish National Election Study 2011 and the Finnish Candidate Study 2011, we explore congruence in the representational preferences of candidates and voters, the extent to which contextual- and individual-level characteristics are related to preferences and whether the effects of these factors are similar across both groups. The analysis concentrates on the focus of representation, further classified as (i) national representation of all citizens, (ii) geographical representation of one's own constituency, (iii) party representation and (iv) group-based interest representation. The results show that, while candidate and voter representational preferences largely overlap, the impacts of contextual factors, socioeconomic characteristics and ideological orientation that shape preferences are different for candidates and voters to some extent.