The formation of party preferences: Testing the proximity and directional models

We review the methodological debate between defenders of the proximity and directional models. We propose what we believe to be a rigorous and fair te st of the two models, using the 1997 Canadian Election Study. The analysis is based on responses to questions in which the various issue positions are explicitly spelled out. We rely on individual perceptions of party positio ns because it is individual perceptions that matter in the formation of par ty preferences but we control for projection effects through a multivariate model that incorporates, in addition to indicators of distance and directi on, socio-demographic characteristics, party identification, and leader rat ings. We also take into account whether a party is perceived to be extreme. The empirical evidence vindicates the proximity model.