In sync or out of tune? Investigating intraparty opinion homogeneity between national leaderships and local representatives

Homogeneity of opinions is important for the cohesion and unity of political parties. While most research focused on homogeneity at the national level, we argue that opinion homogeneity between national parties and their local divisions matters too. We explore the level of homogeneity between national party leaderships and local representatives, and we identify a set of factors that arguably explains variance in levels of homogeneity. Analysing opinions on thirty policy proposals in Flanders, we find a notable amount of heterogeneity, with one in three issues showing discrepancy. Local party leaders exhibit a higher homogeneity than ordinary councillors, while experience is not related to ideological alignment. Issue ownership and issue salience enhance homogeneity. Municipality size positively affects homogeneity. Left-wing ideology seems related to homogeneity as well. This study lays groundwork for future research expanding to diverse political contexts and delving further into issue and party characteristics.