Do the Options Offered Help Determine the Answers Given? Impact of Response Options Effects on Answers to Party Closeness in Two Post-European Election Surveys, 2004

There has been much scholarly debate over the measurement of party identification and the degree to which closeness to parties is an enduring stable attitude. This research investigates an important puzzle where two post-European election surveys undertaken during June 2004 yield significantly different estimates of citizen closeness to political parties. Building on this insight we argue in this paper that the differences in estimates of party closeness observed tells us important things about the nature of party identification in contemporary Europe.