Disaffection at the Ballot Box: The 2015 General Election in Spain

Abstract

Political disaffection, understood as a feeling of estrangement from and distrust of politics, has recently become a widespread explanation for different phenomena, as well as for apparently contradictory electoral outcomes. In this article, we examine which political parties benefited from political disaffection in the 2011 and 2015 general elections in Spain, an under-researched issue in the literature. To do so, we have used the citizen classification proposed by Montero, Navarrete and Sanz (2013), which is based on trust in institutions and interest in politics. We find effects only in the 2015 election. Disaffected voters are more likely to vote for mainstream parties than critical voters. However, compared to satisfied citizens, the disaffected are more likely to prefer new parties.