At the early XXth century, the Spanish left forged alliances with regionalist movements such as the Catalans and the Basques in order to promote democracy and devolution in Spain (Álvarez Junco 2006; de la Granja, Beramendi, y Anguera 2003). During the late Francoism and the Transition to democracy, both main left parties, the PSOE and the PCE, advocated once again for a wide devolution program (Gillespie 1991; Gunther, Sani, y Shabad 1986). On the other hand, the institutionalization of Spain’s Autonomous Communities allowed for dual regional and national identities to develop (Liñeira 2014; Moreno Fernández 1997). In several regions that also led to the breakthrough of several left regional parties (Barrio et al. 2011; Pallarés, Montero, y Llera 1997). Over the time, the Spanish territorial model proved to be quite successful, but at the same led to relevant conflicts that gained saliency during the great recession and the austerity policies of the 2010s (Aja 2014; Moreno Fernández 1997; Subirats y Gallego 2002).
The aim of our paper is to understand differences in national and regional identities as well as territorial preferences and opinions from party activists of several state wide and regionalist Spanish parties. We rely on a unique and very large dataset gathered among party delegates attending party conferences in several Spanish political parties from 2008 to 2017 that provides an overview of their main features, attitudes and opinions. The dataset contains information from 20 surveys conducted to 13 different parties, resulting in around 8.000 cases through a period of 9 years. We have collected data on the main left state wide parties such as PSOE and IU, some of its regional branches and other left regionalist parties. This will allow for a unique in-depth comparison between the territorial preferences and national identities of left parties in Spain.
