When voting is not enough: the relationship between ideological incongruence, party attachment, and protest behavior

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2025.2483671

This study categorizes political participation into voting and protesting to highlight how these actions can complement each other in addressing issues of political representation—rather than viewing protests as a substitute for voting. It argues that voters, being more engaged in the political process, are more likely than non-voters to protest in response to ideological incongruence with the government. While electoral participation predicts protesting as a reaction to such incongruence, voting does not always reflect a strong concern for aligning one's preferences with government positions, especially among individuals without party attachments. To account for this variation, the study distinguishes between voters with and without party affiliations, showing that the likelihood of protesting depends on party attachment and the degree of ideological incongruence. Drawing on data from the European Social Survey (2012–2018), covering 41 country-year observations from Western European democracies, and government positions from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the findings reveal that ideological incongruence significantly increases the likelihood of protesting as a complement to voting—particularly among individuals who feel close to a party.