Green Voting without a Green Party: Conjoint Experiments in Candidate Selection

• In Event: Connections between Elections at Multiple Levels

Abstract

This study explores green voting in Spain across municipal, regional, and national levels. While surveys often reveal high levels of climate concern among individuals, there remains a gap in understanding how this sentiment translates into voting behavior, and the conditions under which it manifests. Our research aims to find out how individuals weigh a candidate's environmental stance against other issues like public services, decentralization, and immigration. Additionally, we aim to discern whether voters exhibit a preference for candidates proposing environmentally conscious policies, even when associated with potential economic costs. Employing a conjoint experiment methodology with panel data across three waves coinciding with municipal, regional, and national elections in Spain, we can identify the respondents’ preferences across a range of candidate attributes. Notably, our findings reveal that voters prefer candidates that express environmental consciousness without advocating economically burdensome measures. The results are identical at the different levels of governance, shedding light on the nuanced dynamics of green voting in Spain

Authors

• Paloma Abril, EUI

• Lluis Orriols, University Carlos III of Madrid - Juan March Institute