When Do Political Parties Move beyond their Comfort Zone?

How do political parties determine their platform? Existing studies theorize and demonstrate that parties adapt their platform because of poor electoral performance. However, some have argued that niche parties react different to public opinion shifts than mainstream parties due to the costly policy moderation effect, which shows that when niche parties moderate their platform, their national vote shares drops and therefore draw the conclusion that niche parties do not respond to public opinion shifts. Others have suggested that parties cater to different constituencies in different periods of the election cycle. However, parties not only respond to voters, but also to other parties’ strategies. By analyzing in-between election data, this studies aims to tap into the conditions under which parties talk to different audiences.