The Grey Vote: Determinants of Older Voters' Party Choice in Britain and West 
Germany

Goerres, Achim

doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2007.12.007

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Add to Basket

Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released

Journal Article

The Grey Vote: Determinants of Older Voters' Party Choice in Britain and West Germany

MPS-Authors

/persons/resource/persons41183

Goerres, Achim
Europäische Liberalisierungspolitik, MPI for the Study of Societies, Max Planck Society;
Universität zu Köln;

External Resource

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2007.12.007
(Publisher version)

Fulltext (restricted access)

There are currently no full texts shared for your IP range.

Fulltext (public)

ES_27_2008_Goerres.pdf
(Any fulltext), 576KB

Supplementary Material (public)

There is no public supplementary material available

Citation

Goerres, A. (2008). The Grey Vote: Determinants of Older Voters' Party Choice in Britain and West Germany. Electoral Studies, 27(2), 285-304. doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2007.12.007.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0012-4708-5

Abstract

To what extent do older people vote differently from younger people? This article tests two generational and two life-cycle
hypotheses with British and West German data. First, older voters belong to a political generation whose party preferences are
shaped by the party fortunes experienced in early elections. The more de-aligned the party system, however, the less strong and
clear generational differences seem to become. Second, New Politics parties are less favoured among older generations. Third, there
is no evidence that ageing voters prefer to cast their ballots for economically more conservative parties. Finally, in more proportional
electoral systems, older people seem to have a preference for larger parties that can leave repeated impressions on them as they age.