Why Parties Gain Votes When the Public Perceives Them Shifting to the Right

We combine two dominant approaches to studying how issues influence elections: one that empha- sizes parties’ issue positions, and the other parties’ issue ownership. Research from the latter ap- proach shows that voters ascribe greater economic competence to right-wing parties. Based on this finding, we argue that parties enhance their economic issue ownership when voters perceive them shifting to the right. In a following step, we show that perceived rightward shifts of parties also lead to subsequent increases in electoral support. We analyze economic ownership survey data and elec- tion outcomes in 15 democracies over the period 1986-2015 that supports the expectations that par- ties’ perceived rightward shifts result in increases in economic ownership and subsequent vote shares. We also show that the right-shift vote gains are strongest during recessions when voters pri- oritize parties’ economic competence.