Young and Informed? Adolescents’ Perceptions of Party and Issue Positions on the Left-Right Spectrum

To cast a meaningful vote, citizens must estimate the positions of political parties on important issues. Especially in complex multiparty systems, understanding the underlying ideological structure of party landscapes is crucial for citizens as they can rely on the related labels to guide them. In many multiparty systems, the main ideological divide is the left-right spectrum, meaning that many citizens use “left” and “right” labels as cognitive shortcuts. Adolescents who are learning about politics will also learn to attach meaning to such labels. Since left and right structures the divisions between parties on contemporary issues, people socialized in different periods may attach different meanings to the terms left and right. This paper examines adolescents’ perceptions of party and issue positions on the left-right spectrum with an original battery of items exploring the meanings attached to “left” and “right” labels. We use survey data from Dutch adolescents and their parents to investigate to what extent adolescents make connections between the positions of parties, issues, and the left-right spectrum, and how their perceptions compare to the perceptions of their parents. We also compare the perceptions of different groups categorized by political knowledge, political engagement, and politically relevant media consumption to uncover which factors might moderate understandings of political landscapes.