Regime Support in Canada: A Rejoinder

In their commentary on our paper, Atkinson, Coleman and Lewis, although acknowledging that ‘studies of political support are particularly appropriate in Canada’, are very critical of our effort for two principal reasons. Firstly, they argue that we have presented no compelling evidence that citizens are unable or unwilling to distinguish sharply between regime and the party in power. On the contrary, they note that Shanks and Citrin have concluded that ordinary American citizens routinely distinguish between regime and authorities. Secondly, they claim that rather than measuring regime support, the dependent variable is simply measuring partisan orientations toward the governing Liberal party and its leaders (e.g. ‘evaluation of incumbent authorities’ (p. 403); ‘the party in power and not the regime’ (p. 403); ‘the incumbent Liberal authorities’ (p. 404); and ‘the dependent variable is measuring feelings toward a Liberal party government and not the regime’ (p. 409)).