How candidate characteristics affect favorability in European Parliament elections: Evidence from a conjoint experiment in Finland
| Author | Henrik S Christensen,Kimmo Grönlund,Marco S La Rosa |
| DOI | 10.1177/1465116520929765 |
| Published date | 01 September 2020 |
| Date | 01 September 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
How candidate
characteristics affect
favorability in European
Parliament elections:
Evidence from a conjoint
experiment in Finland
Henrik S Christensen
Samforsk & Department of Political Science, A
˚bo Akademi
University, A
˚bo, Finland
Marco S La Rosa
Samforsk & Department of Political Science, A
˚bo Akademi
University, A
˚bo, Finland
Kimmo Gr€
onlund
Samforsk & Department of Political Science, A
˚bo Akademi
University, A
˚bo, Finland
Abstract
Previous literature has studied voter behavior in European Parliament elections.
However, it remains unclear how candidate characteristics affect favorability of EP
candidates since it cannot be taken for granted that these characteristics work as in
national elections. We therefore use a conjoint analysis to examine how gender, left-
right ideology, issue focus, political experience, representative focus, citizenship, and
attitude towards European integration affected EP candidate favorability during the
2019 campaign in Finland. Results show that while traditional candidate characteristics
matter, their impact is dwarfed by effects of traits particular to the EP elections.
Corresponding author:
Henrik S Christensen, Samforsk & Department of Political Science, A
˚bo Akademi University, F€
anriksgatan 3a,
A
˚bo 20500, Finland.
Email: henrik.christensen@abo.fi
European Union Politics
2020, Vol. 21(3) 519–540
!The Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1465116520929765
journals.sagepub.com/home/eup
Hence, it is imperative to observe the particularities of EP elections to understand
candidate choice.
Keywords
Candidate characteristics, conjoint analysis, European Union, European Parliament
elections, representation
Introduction
Existing evidence shows that European Union (EU) citizens do not perceive the
union as a legitimate political system (Beetham and Lord, 2014; Schmidt, 2013;).
Weak links between citizens’ preferences and political decision-making in the EU
are a central problem in this regard (Kr€
oger and Friedrich, 2013; van der Eijk and
Franklin, 1996). Previous studies have examined important aspects of this issue,
including how Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) perceive their
representative roles (Scully, 2005), and the attitudes of citizens towards
European integration and trust in EU institutions (Hobolt and De Vries, 2016;
Sa
´nchez-Cuenca, 2000).
While these studies provide many insights, they fail to inform us on how dif-
ferent characteristics of individual candidates affect citizens’ evaluations of them.
This is important since the European Parliament (EP) constitutes the most direct
body representing the voice of European citizens in EU decision-making. Citizens’
expectations are key factors for determining whether and how people vote in the
European elections, thereby affecting the democratic credentials of the EU and
the composition of the EP (Franklin and Hobolt, 2015). The relationship between
the voter expectations and candidate traits has been investigated at the national
level (Bengtsson and Wass, 2010, 2011; von Schoultz and Wass, 2016). It cannot be
taken for granted, however, that the voters’ preferences are similar when it comes
to candidates in EP elections. On the contrary, preferences are likely to differ since
the EP elections are second-order elections (Hobolt and Wittrock, 2011; Reif and
Schmitt, 1980; Schmitt, 2005; Schmitt and Teperoglou, 2015). This may imply that
voters emphasize other qualities in candidates when deciding whom to vote for.
There are also traits that are unique to European elections and the effects of these
are virtually unknown. For example, it is possible for citizens from other member
states to run as a candidate in the EP elections in their country of residence. How
such features affect candidate favorability is unchartered territory.
It is therefore important to examine how certain candidate traits influence the
candidate’s favorability in EP elections. We do so by means of a conjoint analysis
conducted in Finland during the campaign for the 2019 EP elections. Conjoint
analysis makes it possible to determine the causal impact of multiple attributes for
making multi-dimensional choices (Hainmueller et al., 2014) and has been used for
520 European Union Politics 21(3)
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