Regional elites. The case of multilevel parliaments in Spain

This paper focuses on the study of ideological congruence between parliamentary elites (both national and regional) and citizens in Spain. Using data from two surveys using similar questionnaires, one with a sample of national and regional MPs (survey conducted by the Democracy and Autonomy Group, 2009) and the other with a sample of citizens (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, 2012) the paper explores the extent to which the parliamentary elites represent their voters, both in terms of position in the left-right scale and in terms of the political preferences associated with it. Comparing surveys is a very interesting approach, although unfortunately there are not so many elite surveys available for researchers. This is a rare opportunity to have two parallel surveys conducted with the same technique (personal interviews) covering a wide range of issues. However, the comparison of political views of parliamentary elites and citizens raises a number of methodological problems. Taking into account that politicians are supposed to have far higher political education than ordinary citizens and therefore are more sophisticated in their views, can we expect that their answers should be interpreted in the same way as those of their voters? Do basic political concepts have the same meanings for the two groups? Is it possible that a standardized questionnaire may capture the differences in political values between the elites and ordinary people? The paper analyses these questions and explores different alternatives to solve them.