Party (dis-)unity in public opinion and the media: Towards a unified framework for measurement and analysis

The concept of party unity is of central interest to scholars of parliamentary democracy: Much literature on parliaments and party organizations has addressed the determinants and consequences of (dis-)unity. In electoral studies, the divergent electoral implications of a party’s disunited appearance have similarly been documented. However, we know comparatively little about how these two arenas are connected. How are intra-party politics transmitted to citizens by the media and how do public perceptions crystallize as a result? The chief obstacle to answering this question, we contend, lies in our inchoate measurement theory. What does party "(dis-)unity" mean to journalists and citizens and which aspects of intra-party politics do they deem relevant when judging it? To overcome this hurdle, we develop a joint framework for the measurement of party disunity reporting in the media and party disunity perceptions in the public. At the base of this framework lies a two-dimensional conceptualization that distinguishes the heterogeneity inside a party from hostility in intra-party relations. We provide two provisionary applications of the scheme. First, we analyze articles from two ideologically-diverse newspapers during the German federal election campaign of 2021 with respect to both dimensions. Second, we investigate the impact of different question wordings relating to these dimensions in a survey experiment of the same case. Our preliminary analyses suggest that the two-dimensional conceptualization can bridge the spheres of media reporting and public opinion by suggesting harmonized measurement strategies. In the long run, we want to understand both what journalists count as signals of party (dis-)unity and how they (re-)construct it as well as how the resulting frames help voters make up their mind. These objectives are intricately connected: If voters’ perceptions are largely based on media coverage, understanding how intra-party affairs are described and framed by the media – and whether these frames are taken up in turn – is crucial for the link between voters and parties.