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Home Issues Backissues Volume 31, No.1 The Blue and the Green - The Political Ideologies of the Mass Public in the 2000 Taiwan Presidential Election

The Blue and the Green - The Political Ideologies of the Mass Public in the 2000 Taiwan Presidential Election

Wen-Chun Chen
2003 / 05
Volume 10, No.1

pp.41-80
10.6612/tjes.2003.10.01.41-80
Paper

Abstract

In the study of public opinion and mass political attitudes, there are many research subjects which focus on the study of the nature of mass political ideology and the ideological interpretation of voting choice. In this paper, we use the survey data of Taiwan Presidential Election in 2000, to explore the ideological differences between the Blue and the Green. We want to know whether or not the Taiwan's electorate holds political ideologies? Is there a logical coherence or consistency in the mass attitudes toward issues? And, do the electors vote ideologically? By Left-right self-placement, this study finds that there are 48.37% responses who hold political ideologies and think of political affairs in term of Left-right political spectrum. There are obvious ideological differences between the Blue and the Green. More importantly, voters' political ideologies not only affect their party preference and issue position, but are also a factor in voting decision. Therefore, except for the party voting model, the candidate-oriented voting model, and the issue voting model, we perhaps should pay attention to the ideological voting model, too.

Keywords

political ideology

Left-right political spectrum

party preference

political issues

voting choice

ideological voting