Measuring the direction and strength of partisan identity

¹The effects of partisanship persist across countries, but differences in measurement between surveys and countries have made cross-national comparisons of partisanship difficult. In this chapter, the authors review various measures of partisanship used in national and cross-national election studies to investigate their consequences for the identification of partisans and their ability to predict political outcomes. Using examples from national surveys conducted in the United States, Great Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands, the authors demonstrate that partisanship direction is best measured inclusively to include even the weakest identifiers. This can be done by asking a question that lists the parties, makes it as easy as possible for someone to qualify, and pushes those without partisanship to identify a party to which they feel some affinity. The authors also recommend measuring partisan intensity with multi-item scales that get at the full range of partisan intensity.