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Do (Some) Canadian Voters Punish a Prime Minister for Calling a Snap Election?

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  • André Blais
  • Elisabeth Gidengil
  • Neil Nevitte
  • Richard Nadeau

Abstract

Are voters willing to punish a prime minister for calling an ‘unnecessary’ snap election for purely opportunistic reasons? This paper examines voters’ reactions to the Canadian prime minister's decision to call a snap election in November 2000. The decision provoked limited resentment, and that resentment was strongest among partisans of the opposition parties and among those who follow politics closely. Those who do not keep up with politics, it seems, either did not realize that the election was precipitous or simply did not care. The paper shows that resentment about the election call was a consideration in vote choice, but it was a decisive consideration for a very small group of voters. We estimate that the electoral cost to the incumbent Liberal Party was one percentage point. Some voters are prepared to punish prime ministers for opportunistically calling a snap election, but in this case the electoral penalty was small.

Suggested Citation

  • André Blais & Elisabeth Gidengil & Neil Nevitte & Richard Nadeau, 2004. "Do (Some) Canadian Voters Punish a Prime Minister for Calling a Snap Election?," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 52(2), pages 307-323, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:polstu:v:52:y:2004:i:2:p:307-323
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2004.00481.x
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    1. Reid, Bradford G, 1998. "Endogenous Elections, Electoral Budget Cycles and Canadian Provincial Governments," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 97(1-2), pages 35-48, October.
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    6. Balke, Nathan S, 1990. "The Rational Timing of Parliamentary Elections," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 201-216, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jussi Keppo & Lones Smith & Dmitry Davydov, 2006. "Optimal Electoral Timing: Exercise Wisely and You May Live Longer," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1565, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    2. Marius Yapo & Jie He & Bruno Gagnon & Luc Savard & Roland Leduc, 2015. "La valeur économique pour l’amélioration de la qualité de l’eau: le cas de la rivière Magog et du lac Magog (Québec, Canada)," Cahiers de recherche 15-15, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    3. John Bartle, 2005. "Homogeneous Models and Heterogeneous Voters," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 53(4), pages 653-675, December.
    4. Roel Popping, 2013. "What about the leader? What should the Hungarian Prime Minister do after he lied?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 1323-1335, April.

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