Do the political preferences of political parties match with their candidates’ preferences? Political parties are often thought of as unity actors, but electoral systems incentivize candidates to compete with other candidates from their own party. By consequence, political candidates may cultivate unique preferences and advertise different political views than the rest of the party. On the other hand, to deviate from the party line may endanger the candidate’s chances to obtain important ministerial or party organizational positions. We explore the match between the political preferences of parties and candidates at the Danish election of 2011. We subsequently analyze whether party selection procedures, financing, political experience and political activism can help us explain why some candidates deviate from the party line while others stick to it. Finally, we evaluate whether candidates that deviate from the party line win more votes than candidates that stick to the party line. Empirically we utilize the Comparative Candidate Survey fielded in Denmark in 2011. Thus we study a total of 375 candidates from all main Danish parties.
