The Causes of the Urban-Rural Cleavage in Green Voting: Evidence from Germany

• In Event: Poster Session: Comparative Politics III & Comparative Politics of Advanced Industrial Societies
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Comparative Politics of Advanced Industrial Societies

Abstract

Recent studies highlight the rising relevance of the geographical cleavage in the configuration of electoral politics. It is often suggested that the Greens are the party family most affected by the urban-rural divide. However, until now the reasons for the urban-rural cleavage in green voting has not been explored. This article attempts to elucidate whether the division between cities and urban areas in green voting exists at the individual level, and which are the causes accounting for this potential divide. For this purpose, a propensity score matching and a cross sectional time series designs are applied to analyse the German case. The results indicate that there is a significant urban-rural polarization in green voting, and that compositional effects, rather than contextual factors, explain this cleavage. Moreover, attitudes towards the environment seem to act as an important mechanism linking social characteristics with green voting. These findings have important implications for understanding the wider consequences of postindustrial economic and cultural transformations and the effects of ecological degradation on political behaviour.

Author

• Ivan Tubio Sanles, University of Oxford