The Relationship between Ideological Identity and Political Attitudes in the UK

• In Event: Political Identities, Contemporary Issues, and Public Opinion

Abstract

How are economic and social attitudes related to left-right self-placement for British individuals? Using British Election Study data spanning from 2014-2023, I find that social attitudes are increasingly becoming more important in predicting overall left-right identities than economic attitudes. However, asymmetries exist across the political spectrum, with the most left-identifying individuals having more consistent and closely aligned economic attitudes to their self-placement. Equally, the most right-identifying individuals, whilst holding strongly socially conservative beliefs, are less likely match their economic attitudes with their right-wing self-placement. These results demonstrate the importance of political scientists differentiating between self-defined ideology and issue beliefs and reveal how the left-right self-placement scale is used inconsistently by the public. Additionally, these findings have broader implications for our understanding of ideological complexity among the British public and for how parties appeal to voters on the left and right.

Author

• Joelle Tasker, University of Essex