The Guardian newspaper recently reported a study that men with daughters are more likely to vote for left-wing parties than other fathers.
I found that this was based on some research by Dr Andrew Oswald of Warwick University and N. Powdthavee of York University. The full text of their article ‘Daughters and Left-Wing voting’ can be read online.
This lead me to think about the forthcoming European elections. Intute has some interesting studies about voting preferences in the EU. Left-Right and the European Parliament Vote in 2004“, in: Marsh, Michael, Slava Mikhaylov and Hermann Schmitt (ed.), European Elections after Eastern Enlargement. Preliminary Results of the European Elections Study 2004, CONNEX Report Series, Vol. 1, Wiesbaden: MZES, pp. 97-140. Considers whether voter preferences or political systems are more important in influencing voter choice.
Another survey considers who votes for right wing parties using evidence from the 2004 European elections. The support base of radical right parties in the enlarged European Union States“, in: Marsh, Michael, Slava Mikhaylov and Hermann Schmitt (ed.), European Elections after Eastern Enlargement. Preliminary Results of the European Elections Study 2004, CONNEX Report Series, Vol. 1, Wiesbaden: MZES, pp. 297-326.
You can trace many more useful articles and papers about voter preferences and voting patterns in earlier European elections using the Piredeu bibliography. It includes links to any of them that are free online.
Another useful place for tracing the latest surveys of voter intentions is Eurobarometer. It has a number of recent surveys relating to the elections. For example this one from March surveyed what women thought of the European Parliament and who they intended to vote for.
Tags: Elections, EU Elections
