Australian voter, parties and the federal system of government : a study of party preference, perceptions of political parties and the salience of national and state governments in Denison, Tasmania

摘要

Australia has both a federal system and parliamentaryudgovernment. One result of this combination is that at any pointudin time an election is likely to be a focus of attention, particularlyudby party activists, somewhere within the system. Moreudimportantly, the same major political parties are the mainudcontenders for control of both state and national governments.udThus irrespective of the particular electoral arena, the voter isudconfronted with a partisan choice comprising essentially the sameudparties.udA sample survey of the Tasmanian electorate of Denisonudwas undertaken to examine the way voters perceive this politicaludenvironment. The data generated by the responses to questions onudthe parties, party preference, party competition, the structuringudof the political system and of respondents' perceptions of theirudself-identity within a system which encourages both national andudstate loyalties are presented and analysed.udA federal system provides the opportunity for voters toudmaintain attachments to different parties simultaneously. Partyudidentification and reported voting behaviour are used as measuresudof party preference to indicate the extent to which voters maintainudthe same partisan attachment across both spheres of the system.udThe patterns of party attachments which emerge lead to anudanalysis of perceptions about party competition at each sphere andudto a comparison across spheres of party images. The images andudresponse patterns provide evidence indicating the extent to which the party system is perceived monolithically. Patterns of perceptions about party competition in the federal context areudrevealed and differences relating to socio-economic variablesudand partisanship are indicated.udParty competition occurs in the context of constitutionallyudand politically defined spheres of governmental jurisdiction. Perceptionsudabout the structuring of the system in terms of the relativeudimportance of state and national governments are used to indicateudthe salience of each sphere. Three orientations are evident, andudare examined in relation to socio-economic variables and partisanship.udEach respondent's orientation to the system is crosstabulatedudto his political identity. The resultant patterns indicate a mixudof orientation and identity ranging from fully national to fully state.udOrientations toward the system are also used as independentudvariables in a further examination of perceptions of party competition.udPerceptions of party competition in relation to each sphereudare examined and compared for each orientation. In additionudimportant partisan differences are revealed and some comments areudoffered about the consequences of these differences in relation toudTasmanian state elections.udThe response patterns which emerge from the analysis of theudsurvey data indicate perceptions about the parties and the politicaludsystem which challenge the appropriateness of assumptions andudassertions prevalent in the literature. The mix of perceptions that are revealed suggest a need for further research on citizens perceptions, and in particular different models of the systemudshould be utilized to fully explore the consequences of these perceptions on the functioning of the federal system.