This paper investigates the psychological roots of voters' feelings of closeness to contemporary Italian parties. In doing so, the paper aims at elaborating on the notion of “leader effects” moving from the seminal distinction between direct and indirect effects as brought forward by King (2002). The analysis assesses the empirical validity of such dichotomy making use of a unique panel dataset collected by the Italian National Election Study in November/December 2013. The time frame of the survey allows for an unprecedented causal assessment of the effect exerted by leadership change (from Bersani to Renzi in PD) as well as party denomination change (from PdL to Forza Italia, both led by Berlusconi) on patterns of closeness to parties at the individual level. The results shed new light on the changing relationship between voters and political parties in Italy, ever more centered around the persona of the party leader.
