Increasingly Lost in Translation? Redistribution Preferences and Vote Choice

Representative democracy rests on the premise that there is a close match between citizens’ policy preferences and the actions of their representatives. A key factor for such a match is that citizens chose their representatives based on their own policy preferences. In this paper, we explore the extent to which citizens’ preferences in relation to economic policy and redistribution in particular shape their vote choice. Using data from the European Social Survey, we analyse the changes that occurred in that regard since the early 2000s. Our analyses reveal that redistribution preferences have different weights in citizens’ vote choice across countries. Overall, the importance of redistribution preferences has decreased over the two last decades. This trend can be partly attributed to a rise in the importance on non-economic issues. However, factors unrelated to policy, such as lack of trust in incumbent parties, also play role. These findings have important implications for understanding the nature of the link between citizens and elites in contemporary democracies. They might explain low levels of policy responsiveness on economic issues.