Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to test the relative weight of utilitarian, normative and cognitive determinants of voting choices on environmental issues. Environmental protection lends itself particularly well to such a test, since it is a typical valence issue (Kriesi, 1999: 52). At the level of principles almost everybody agrees that something should be done about it, but specific environmental measures often meet resistance. Faced with concrete proposals, many people realize that environmental protection comes at a price and tend to turn down measures which may affect their personal situation. In addition, environmental policies are often complex and have long-term implications that are hard to grasp for voters. They thus offer a promising basis for the test of the impact of cognitive factors on political attitudes.
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© 2007 Pascal Sciarini, Nicholas Bornstein and Bruno Lanz
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Sciarini, P., Bornstein, N., Lanz, B. (2007). The Determinants of Voting Choices on Environmental Issues: A Two-level Analysis. In: de Vreese, C.H. (eds) The Dynamics of Referendum Campaigns. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230591189_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230591189_11
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