Affective Polarization in the Canadian Party System 1965-2019 (Pre-Recorded)

• In Event: Party Polarization in Canada and the United States

Abstract

This paper brings five decades of broadly consistent survey data on survey respondents’ feelings about the parties as evidence of affective polarization. It also presents evidence about policy differences among the parties and makes an explicit link between elite and mass data with multi-level modelling. The paper shows that affective polarization is real and demonstrates its connection to the ideological landscape. But it also shows that conceptual categories originating in the US must be adapted to Canada’s multi-party system and to the continuing contrasts between Quebec and the rest of Canada. It suggests that accounts of Canada’s 20th century party system may not apply to the 21st century.

Author

• Richard Johnston, University of British Columbia