Cleavage Structures and Dimensions of Ideology in English Politics: Evidence From Voting Advice Application Data

Abstract

The Left-Right dimension is the most common way of conceptualizing ideological difference. It is based on the traditional cleavage in society between capital and labor. But in an ever more globalized world, are the concepts of Left and Right as relevant today as they were half a century ago? Following This argument is tested by identifying latent dimensions from opinion data generated by two Voting Advice Applications deployed in England in 2014 and 2015 and by mapping the positions of party supporters with respect to these dimensions. It is found that in England the political space is defined by two main ideological dimensions: an economic Left-Right dimension and a cultural communitariancosmopolitan dimension. Finally, supporters of the newly formed United Kingdom Independence Party are found to be located near the communitarian pole of the cultural dimension.