Lecture 6 Readings Flashcards
Maclean’s survey methodology
Expert respondents were asked to rank Prime Ministers on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (outstanding)
trudeau vs. harper’s ranking
Trudeau scored higher than Harper 3.27 vs. 2.97
greatest prime ministers according to the Maclean’s survey
- The greatest Prime Ministers were William Lyon Mackenzie King, Wilfrid Laurier, and John A. Macdonald
- For younger respondents and Quebecers, Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau tied for third
what were the traits respondents thought made for effective leadership?
- An aptitude for holding onto power
- A clear record of accomplishments
- A sensitivity to national unity
- Performing well in times of crisis
- The criteria for effective leadership evolved, with more emphasis on Indigenous issues and environmental policies since the 2011 survey
William Lyon Mackenzie King
- Ranked as the best PM
- His achievements included gaining independence, founding the welfare state, and navigating wartime challenges
Wilfrid Laurier
- Ranked as the second-best PM
- He was praised for his cultural sophistication, intellect, and commitment to tolerance and compromise
John A. Macdonald
Fell to third place since the 2011 survey due to revelations about systemic campaigns against Indigenous people
Pierre Trudeau
- Was praised for remaking Canada and battling Quebec separatism
- He was criticized for isolating certain communities and the near victor of the Ys side in the 1995 referendum
Lester B. Pearson
- Pearson recognized for the Canadian flag, medicare, and peacekeeping
- He has maintained a positive reputation
Brian Mulroney
- He is considered transformative for policies like free trade and pension reform
- He received positive evaluations for his long-term legacies
Jean Chretien
- Assessments of Chretien vary
- Some praise him for his deficit reduction and decisions related to Quebec, while others condemn him for the Quebec independence vote and the sponsorship scandal
Stephen Harper
- Was ranked the 12th-best PM
- Harper faced criticism for environmental policies, Senate issues, and his approach to Muslim women and the Niqab during the 2015 election campaign
future challenges for Trudeau
- Trudeau could secure a lasting impact by addressing Indigenous dispossession and destitution, going beyond the current national inquiry
- The Prime Minister is urged to frame his program as a recognition of long-denied rights rather than a favour, potentially positioning him favourably in future surveys
the presidentialization of parliamentary systems
Some scholars argue that voters are increasingly taking into account the personality of the leader they are voting for rather than the political party
According to these scholars, voters in parliamentary systems behave like voters in presidential systems where the direct vote for a presidential candidate places the perception of leaders front in centre in the vote calculus (called presidentialization)
what is the assumption underlying presidentialization?
The assumption that party leaders matter in the first place underlies the hypothesis of presidentialization
reasons for expecting voters to consider party leaders
- The party leader will become the PM
- The media places leaders front and centre
- It is psychologically easy for voters to evaluate party leaders because it mirrors how we evaluate people in our daily lives
- Voter may use their perceptions of party leaders as a shortcut, helping them to decipher which party to support
how do we assess party leaders?
Recent studies show that we assess party leaders in terms of their character and competence
character
includes traits like trustworthy, honest, caring, and empathetic
competence
includes traits such as intelligence and strength of leadership
perception of leaders’ personalities by party
Voters perceive and expect conservative leaders to be more competent but they perceive and expect leaders on the left to have more character
leaders’ personalities in the U.S.
In the U.S., the impact of leaders’ personalities fluctuates from year to year but traits have not become more important in the country
feeling thermometers
Scholars assess voters’ feelings toward party leaders with “feeling thermometers”, which makes cross-national and overt-time comparison easier
problems with feelings thermometers
- The meaning of the feelings question may be confusing for voters
- It may be difficult to capture real feelings toward party leaders with these thermometers
- It is difficult to disentangle the dependent variable (vote of choice for a party) from the independent variable (party closest to a voter on a given valence issue)
what arguments do scholars who claim that leaders are becoming increasingly polarized use?
- The decreasing importance of partisanship
- Changes in the media environment
- The erosion of traditional political cleavages
ratings of leaders by politcal party findings
- NDP candidates have been rated the most highly in all years on the character dimension
- Conservative leaders have been perceived as the most competent in most elections
partisanship findings
Partisanship peaked in 2000 and then began decreasing
ideological leanings findings
- Ideological leanings by partisan groups have been fairly consistent over time
- The NDP showed the most movement and the Conservatives showed the least
trait perception of leaders across and within parties findings
Voters have perceptions of leaders’ personalities but they differentiate between party leaders across parties and within parties
conclusion of presidentialization research
there is no evidence that there is increased presidentialization in Canada. Leaders have always mattered
trait perception of party leaders and vote choice findings
There are marginal effects of trait perception for leaders of the three main parties
