Ideological and Policy Representation in Portugal, Before and After the Great Recession, 2008-2017

For the sake of democratic quality, it is expected that there is some congruence between voters and representatives in terms of policy preferences, namely when we segment both mass and elite groups by political parties, to assure that public policies reflect citizens' policy preferences. We know from previous studies (2008 and 2012-13 surveys) that, first, the left-wing MPs are more aligned with their voters in socioeconomic issues than in cultural issues, as compared with their peers on the right. On the contrary, the right-wing parties are more aligned with their voters in cultural issues than in socioeconomic issues, as compared with their peers on the left. Moreover, it is known that the mismatch between right-wing MPs and their constituents on socioeconomic issues was aggravated during the Troika years due a significant move to the neoliberal right by the PSD elite which was not accompanied by PSD voters. The purpose of the present paper, is to see what changed in this respect after the 2015 national elections and the consequent change in government. We analyse these issues relying on a set of mass and MPs surveys, 2008-2012-2016, and use different techniques to measure MPs-Voters' congruence in terms of policy preferences.