Joelle Tasker

@joelletasker.bsky.social

Postdoc at Uppsala Peace and Conflict Research | PhD University of Essex | Researching public opinion, political attitudes, ideology and political violence

@joelletasker.bsky.social

Very appreciative of all the encouraging and constructive feedback I received while working on this paper, from my supervisory panel, conferences, and reviewers. A special thanks is owed to @roycecarroll.bsky.social who has seen me through the many iterations of this paper over the years!

@joelletasker.bsky.social

Over ten years (2014-2024), econ values became less predictive of left-right self-placement, while cultural values became a slightly stronger predictor. This was driven by the weakening link between econ values and self-placement on the right, and greater importance of cultural values for the left.

Regression models for values predicting self-placement over time. The x-axis is time, while the y-axis shows the coefficient estimate. Focusing on the General Election waves of the data, economic values become less predictive of left-right self-placement over time, while cultural values become more important (particularly between the 2017 and 2019 elections).
@joelletasker.bsky.social

This is related to which issues each side of the spectrum finds important. For those on the left, economic issues are often named as more important (e.g. welfare, poverty) while for those on the right, they are more likely to name an issue on the cultural dimension (e.g. immigration, crime).

Mean self-placement level of those naming each issue, pooled across all waves (2014-2024). The x-axis is the average left-right self-placement and the y-axis is the categorised Most Important Issue response.
@joelletasker.bsky.social

One finding is that economic values are much more predictive of left-right self-placement for those on the left-half of the scale, while cultural values are much more important for those on the right.

Plot of average values score for each left-right self-placement level. The x-axis is economic values, and the y-axis is cultural values, while the points indicate the average values for each self-placement level, from 0 (left) to 10 (right). Those identifying 0-4 (on the left) are most differentiated from one another by their economic values. Those identifying 6-10 (on the right) are most differentiated from one another by their cultural values.